Bipol better known as Biodegradable Polymer, is a copolymer of PHB and PHV, produced through the bacteria Alcaligenes Europhus(

Cupriavidus necator). Alcaligenes Eutrophus is cultivated in a suitable medium. For it to proliferate it is than fed with a carbon based food substance such as fructose or glucose. Once proliferation is sufficient certain nutrients are restricted or removed, in the case of Alcaligenes Eutrophus nitrogen is removed. Because of the removal of nitrogen, which is an element for bacteria to proliferate, the bacteria stop dividing and start producing the polymer in cutoplasmic granules. The bacterial cell are than lysed, usually with detergent and the polymer is extracted and then purified. In the case of PHB ,the percentage of Poly(3HB ) in bacterial cells is normally low, from 1 to 30%, but under controlled fermentation conditions of carbon excess and nitrogen limitation, overproduction of polymer can be encouraged to produce yields of up to 80% of the dry cell weight.

Bipol has many similar properties to other polymers( polypropylene): Insoluble in water non toxic

strong thermoplastic Melting point is 140C- 180C resistant to chemical attack renewable biocompatible( medical applications) biodegradable( waste management)

Due to these properties Bipol can be used for disposable nappies, shampoo bottles, sutures( stitches), stents and bone plates. In the use of Bipol for these is that it is biodegradable, while many other plastic or polymers are not biodegradable or take a long time to breakdown. It is able to biodegrade as in PHA's they are produced from renewable resources( the A.eutrophus), their structures can be manipulated through genetic and physiological measures. PHA is blended and regulated with natural and or synthetic polymers which allow for the microbes to produce PHA degrading enzymes, short chains of PHA behave similarly to polypropylene thus having many similar properties. However Bipol is very expensive to produce as it requires technical expertise such as microbiologist, to further study and analyse the bacteria and also polymer extraction is a hard task as it does not always have enough yield. Recent discoveries for the use of Bipol is that Bipol could be used in genetic engineering, for example the genes that allow Alcaligenes Eutrophus to produce cytoplasmic granules when nitrogen is depleted, can be extracted from the bacteria and transferred to a more faster efficient bacteria such as E.coli bacteria which multiplies faster and allows for higher yield and easier extraction. Also the possibility of implanting this gene into plants such as potatoes and corn, thus instead of storing starch it would store polymer instead, however transgenic plants may not be sufficient due to costs, land coverage and the fact that plants may not grow if it only stores polymer as plants require other necessities to grow. Thus Bipol is a very useful biodegradable copolymer and with further research could replace polypropylene and be a greener substance to use instead of polypropylene.

By: Diana Nguyen