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Enhancing polyethylene degradation: a novel bioprocess approach using Acinetobacter nosocomialis pseudo-resting cells

Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology 2024 4 citations ? Citation count from OpenAlex, updated daily. May differ slightly from the publisher's own count. Score: 45 ? 0–100 AI score estimating relevance to the microplastics field. Papers below 30 are filtered from public browse.
Hyeon Jeong Seong, Hye-Jin Kim, Young-Joon Ko, Zhuang Yao, Song-Bum Baek, Namjung Kim, Yu‐Sin Jang

Summary

A bioprocess using pseudo-resting cells of the bacterium Acinetobacter nosocomialis was developed for efficient degradation of low-density polyethylene (LDPE), with the strain isolated from PE-containing landfills. The study optimized culture conditions to generate catalytic cells capable of oxidizing LDPE surfaces.

Polymers

Despite the discovery of several bacteria capable of interacting with polymers, the activity of the natural bacterial isolates is limited. Furthermore, there is a lack of knowledge regarding the development of bioprocesses for polyethylene (PE) degradation. Here, we report a bioprocess using pseudo-resting cells for efficient degradation of PE. The bacterial strain Acinetobacter nosocomialis was isolated from PE-containing landfills and characterized using low-density PE (LDPE) surface oxidation when incubated with LDPE. We optimized culture conditions to generate catalytic pseudo-resting cells of A. nosocomialis that are capable of degrading LDPE films in a bioreactor. After 28 days of bioreactor operation using pseudo-resting cells of A. nosocomialis, we observed the formation of holes on the PE film (39 holes per 217 cm2, a maximum diameter of 1440 μm). This study highlights the potential of bacteria as biocatalysts for the development of PE degradation processes. KEY POINTS: • New bioprocess has been proposed to degrade polyethylene (PE). • Process with pseudo-resting cells results in the formation of holes in PE film. • We demonstrated PE degradation using A. nosocomialis as a biocatalyst.

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