Screening of commercial enzymes for poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) hydrolysis and synergy studies on different substrate sources

  • Aline Machado de Castro
  • Adriano Carniel
  • José Nicomedes Junior
  • Absai da Conceição Gomes
  • Érika Valoni
Biocatalysis - Original Paper
First Online:
Received:
Accepted:

Abstract

Poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) is one of the most consumed plastics in the world. The development of efficient technologies for its depolymerization for monomers reuse is highly encouraged, since current recycling rates are still very low. In this study, 16 commercial lipases and cutinases were evaluated for their abilities to catalyze the hydrolysis of two PET samples. Humicola insolens cutinase showed the best performance and was then used in reactions on other PET sources, solely or in combination with the efficient mono(hydroxyethyl terephthalate)-converting lipase from Candida antarctica. Synergy degrees of the final titers of up to 2.2 (i.e., more than double of the concentration when both enzymes were used, as compared to their use alone) were found, with increased terephthalic acid formation rates, reaching a maximum of 59,989 µmol/L (9.36 g/L). These findings open up new possibilities for the conversion of post-consumer PET packages into their minimal monomers, which can be used as drop in at existing industrial facilities.

Keywords

Cutinase Lipase Depolymerization Terephthalic acid PET recycling 
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Notes

Acknowledgements

Authors wish to acknowledge PETROBRAS for the financial support. To Rogério Martins for his support in SEM analyses. To Thalmo Azevedo for his assistance in particle size analyses. To Aline Lima for her collaboration in intrinsic viscosity and DSC analyses. To Rafael Dias and Wellison Muniz for their help in the milling of PET samples. To Novozymes for providing some of the enzymes used in this study. To PetroquímicaSuape and Prof. Marcos Lopes for providing the PET samples.

Supplementary material

10295_2017_1942_MOESM1_ESM.docx (204 kb)
Supplementary material 1 (DOCX 204 kb)

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Copyright information

© Society for Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology 2017

Authors and Affiliations

  • Aline Machado de Castro
    • 1
  • Adriano Carniel
    • 2
  • José Nicomedes Junior
    • 1
  • Absai da Conceição Gomes
    • 1
  • Érika Valoni
    • 1
  1. 1.Biotechnology Division, Research and Development CenterPETROBRASRio de JaneiroBrazil
  2. 2.Falcão BauerSão PauloBrazil

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