Novel biocatalysts from nature for polymer processing
Abstract
The focus of this thesis is the isolation of novel biocatalysts from nature for (bio)polymer processing and recycling. In the last decades the demand for plastics derived from fossil fuels and gas has rapidly grown since they are widely used for clothing, packaging and other short living products. Polymers find this wide range of applications because of their in expensiveness, durability and superior mechanical properties. However, these properties which make them attractive for industry, also cause their biggest disadvantages: they are difficult to be processed under mild conditions and they cannot be degraded in biological pathways, accumulate in the ecosystems and cause several environmental problems such as plastic patches in oceans and rivers. Incineration of plastics causes air pollution while the dispersion in the environment leads to animals’ thread and the entrance in the food chain by the accumulation in fish, with a direct impact on human health. Microorganisms and isolated enzymes have shown to degrade polymers with a heterogeneous atom backbone composition. Enzymes have the big advantage of mild reaction conditions and furthermore high reaction control. This enables the specific step-wise recycling, functionalization and modification. In course of this study, a high throughput system called “Bioactive Microbial Metabolites” (BiMM) core facility located at the Tulln campus will be used to screen a large number of fungi for production of highly active polymer modifying enzymes.
Polymer Enzyme Polymer processing
Publikationen
Project staff
Doris Ribitsch
Priv.-Doz. Mag. Dr. Doris Ribitsch
doris.ribitsch@boku.ac.at
Tel: +43 1 47654-97485
Project Leader
01.10.2018 - 31.10.2020