Microbial Fermentation of Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) Plastic Waste for the Production of Chemicals or Electricity

Shafeer Kalathil; Melanie Miller; Erwin Reisner

doi:10.1002/anie.202211057

Microbial Fermentation of Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) Plastic Waste for the Production of Chemicals or Electricity

Shafeer Kalathil, Melanie Miller, Erwin Reisner^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

17 Citations (Scopus)

48 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Ideonella sakaiensis ( I. sakaiensis ) can grow on polyethylene terephthalate (PET) as the major carbon and energy source. Previous work has shown that PET conversion in the presence of oxygen released carbon dioxide and water while yielding adenosine triphosphate (ATP) through oxidative phosphorylation. This study demonstrates that I. sakaiensis is a facultative anaerobe that ferments PET to the feedstock chemicals acetate and ethanol in the absence of oxygen. In addition to PET, the pure monomer ethylene glycol (EG), the intermediate product ethanol, and the carbohydrate fermentation test substance maltose can also serve as fermenting substrates. Co-culturing of I. sakaiensis with the electrogenic and acetate-consuming Geobacter sulfurreducens produced electricity from PET or EG. This newly identified plastic fermentation process by I. sakaiensis pro-vides thus a novel biosynthetic route to produce high-value chemicals or electricity from plastic waste streams.

Original language	English
Article number	e202211057
Number of pages	7
Journal	Angewandte Chemie - International Edition
Volume	61
Issue number	45
Early online date	10 Oct 2022
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202211057
Publication status	Published - 7 Nov 2022
Externally published	Yes

Keywords

Electrosyntrophy
Fermentation
Ideonella sakaiensis
Biosynthesis
Plastic Recycling

Access to Document

10.1002/anie.202211057

Angew Chem Int Ed - 2022 - Kalathil - Microbial Fermentation of Polyethylene Terephthalate PET Plastic Waste for theAccepted author manuscript, 1.37 MB
Final published versionFinal published version, 781 KBLicence: CC BY
Advance online versionFinal published version, 805 KBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

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title = "Microbial Fermentation of Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) Plastic Waste for the Production of Chemicals or Electricity",

abstract = "Ideonella sakaiensis ( I. sakaiensis ) can grow on polyethylene terephthalate (PET) as the major carbon and energy source. Previous work has shown that PET conversion in the presence of oxygen released carbon dioxide and water while yielding adenosine triphosphate (ATP) through oxidative phosphorylation. This study demonstrates that I. sakaiensis is a facultative anaerobe that ferments PET to the feedstock chemicals acetate and ethanol in the absence of oxygen. In addition to PET, the pure monomer ethylene glycol (EG), the intermediate product ethanol, and the carbohydrate fermentation test substance maltose can also serve as fermenting substrates. Co-culturing of I. sakaiensis with the electrogenic and acetate-consuming Geobacter sulfurreducens produced electricity from PET or EG. This newly identified plastic fermentation process by I. sakaiensis pro-vides thus a novel biosynthetic route to produce high-value chemicals or electricity from plastic waste streams.",

keywords = "Electrosyntrophy, Fermentation, Ideonella sakaiensis, Biosynthesis, Plastic Recycling",

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note = "Funding information: This work was supported by a European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator Grant {\textquoteleft}MatEnSAP{\textquoteright} (682833, ER and MM), European Marie Sklodowska-Curie individual Fellowship (SK, GAN 744317), UKRI Cambridge Circular Plastics Centre (CirPlas, EP/S025308/1, SK and ER), Funds for Women Graduates Foundation Main Grant (MM), Research England{\textquoteright}s Expanding Excellence in England (E3) Fund (SK). ",

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N1 - Funding information: This work was supported by a European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator Grant ‘MatEnSAP’ (682833, ER and MM), European Marie Sklodowska-Curie individual Fellowship (SK, GAN 744317), UKRI Cambridge Circular Plastics Centre (CirPlas, EP/S025308/1, SK and ER), Funds for Women Graduates Foundation Main Grant (MM), Research England’s Expanding Excellence in England (E3) Fund (SK).

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N2 - Ideonella sakaiensis ( I. sakaiensis ) can grow on polyethylene terephthalate (PET) as the major carbon and energy source. Previous work has shown that PET conversion in the presence of oxygen released carbon dioxide and water while yielding adenosine triphosphate (ATP) through oxidative phosphorylation. This study demonstrates that I. sakaiensis is a facultative anaerobe that ferments PET to the feedstock chemicals acetate and ethanol in the absence of oxygen. In addition to PET, the pure monomer ethylene glycol (EG), the intermediate product ethanol, and the carbohydrate fermentation test substance maltose can also serve as fermenting substrates. Co-culturing of I. sakaiensis with the electrogenic and acetate-consuming Geobacter sulfurreducens produced electricity from PET or EG. This newly identified plastic fermentation process by I. sakaiensis pro-vides thus a novel biosynthetic route to produce high-value chemicals or electricity from plastic waste streams.

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KW - Biosynthesis

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Microbial Fermentation of Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) Plastic Waste for the Production of Chemicals or Electricity

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Keywords

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