Table 1.
Classification of typical commercially available biodegradable polymers based on their origins, together with the trade names and manufacturers [9,10].
| Origin | Polymer Name | Trade Name | Manufacturer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Produced by bacteria | Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), Polyhydroxy butyrate (PHB) 
|
BiopolTM | Monsanto Company (St. Louis, MO, USA) |
Polyhydroxybutyrate-co-hydroxyvalerate [P(HB-co-HV)]
|
Imperial Chemical Industries (London, UK) | ||
| Gellan gum | KelcogelR | Kelco Biopolymers (Atlanta, GA, USA) | |
| Curdlan | PureglucanR | Takeda Chemical Industries (Osaka, Japan) Nuture, Inc. (New York, NY, USA) |
|
| Produced from natural products and their derivatives | Amylose Amylopectine Starch |
Mater-BiR, VegematR |
Novamont (Novara, Italy) Vivadur (Bazet, French) |
| Chitin | - | Eastman Chemical Company (Kingsport, TN, USA) Primester (Kingsport, TN, USA) Celanese Ltd. (Irving, TX, USA) |
|
| Cellulose acetate (CA) | ChitoPureR | USA Biopolymer Engineering (Saint Paul, MN, USA) | |
| Produced via chemical synthesis | Polyglycolic acid (PGA)
|
BiomaxR | Dupont (Wilmington, DE, USA) |
Polylactic acid (PLA)
|
NatureWorksTM | Cargill Dow (Plymouth, MN, USA) Mitsui Toatsu Chemical (Tokyo, Japan) |
|
Polycaprolactone (PCL) |
CapaR | Solvay Group (Brussels, Belgium) | |
| Poly(butylene succinate-co-butylene adipate) (PBSA) | Bionolle | Showa Highpolymer (Tokyo, Japan) | |
Poly (butylene succinate) (PBS)
|