Conditions for a Microbial Consortium for the Biological Degradation of Plastic Polymers

Xinyue Liu, Finn Stirling

2022

Abstract

Plastic pollution is one of the most serious environmental problems the world faces. Conventional approaches to plastic waste, such as landfilling, incineration and recycling are not sufficient to maintain an equilibrium between plastic production and decomposition. Since plastics can provide an energy source for microbes, biotic degradation could contribute a solution towards excessive plastic waste. Over the last 30 years, hundreds of species have been described to degrade one or more of the six most common polymer types. By combining multiple types of species to form consortias, the efficiency of degradation can be synergistically increased. In this study, we consider the factors that would contribute to a microbial consortium, and what combinations of species would most effectively degrade plastic polymers. Abiotic factors such as temperature, oxygen level, pH, UV exposure, moisture level, carbon availability and abundance of trace elements are considered. The origin of individual microbes is considered with regard to their compatibility. The usefulness and shortcomings of reported degradation efficiencies is discussed. A theoretical consortium is recommended, taking into account individual strain decomposition efficiency and the comprehensiveness of plastic degradation.

Paper Citation

in Harvard Style

Liu X. and Stirling F. (2022). Conditions for a Microbial Consortium for the Biological Degradation of Plastic Polymers. In Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Biomedical Engineering and Bioinformatics - Volume 1: ICBEB, ISBN 978-989-758-595-1, pages 198-203. DOI: 10.5220/0011195700003443

in Bibtex Style

@conference{icbeb22,
author={Xinyue Liu and Finn Stirling},
title={Conditions for a Microbial Consortium for the Biological Degradation of Plastic Polymers},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Biomedical Engineering and Bioinformatics - Volume 1: ICBEB,},
year={2022},
pages={198-203},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0011195700003443},
isbn={978-989-758-595-1},
}

in EndNote Style

TY - CONF

JO - Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Biomedical Engineering and Bioinformatics - Volume 1: ICBEB,
TI - Conditions for a Microbial Consortium for the Biological Degradation of Plastic Polymers
SN - 978-989-758-595-1
AU - Liu X.
AU - Stirling F.
PY - 2022
SP - 198
EP - 203
DO - 10.5220/0011195700003443