Biodegradation of Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) in Tenebrio molitor (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) larvae

Peng, Bo-Yu; Chen, Zhibin; Chen, Jiabin; Yu, Hui; Zhou, Xuefei; Criddle, Craig S.; Wu, Wei‐Min; Zhang, Yalei

doi:10.1016/j.envint.2020.106106

Cited by 193 publications

(121 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…The survival rate was 100%; however, larvae fed on tire crumb had a weight loss of 10.54%, whereas larvae fed on v-SBR and bran showed a mass gain of 9.31% and 22.23%, respectively. Peng et al (2020b) tested rigid PVC microplastic powders as the sole diet of mealworms. They found broad depolymerisation witnessed by the reduction of weight, number and size average values of the polymer (33.4%, 32.8% and 36.4%, respectively).…”

Section: Biodegradation Of Plastic Wastementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Weight losses were sometimes similar to those of starved larvae: they suggested that plastic degradation can, at best, provide enough energy for survival but cannot provide all needed nutrients Urbanek et al 2020). The addition of feed as soy or WB can support TM larvae to grow and complete their life cycle (Peng et al 2020b;Urbanek et al 2020;. Moreover, proper amounts of extra feed can enhance plastic degradation (Brandon et al 2018;.…”

Section: Biodegradation Of Plastic Wastementioning

confidence: 99%

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Tenebrio molitor in the circular economy: a novel approach for plastic valorisation and PHA biological recovery

Sangiorgio

Verardi

Dimatteo

et al. 2021

Environ Sci Pollut Res

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The increase in the world population leads to rising demand and consumption of plastic raw materials; only a small percentage of plastics is recovered and recycled, increasing the quantity of waste released into the environment and losing its economic value. The plastics represent a great opportunity in the circular perspective of their reuse and recycling. Research is moving, on the one hand, to implement sustainable systems for plastic waste management and on the other to find new non-fossil-based plastics such as polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs). In this review, we focus our attention on Tenebrio molitor (TM) as a valuable solution for plastic biodegradation and biological recovery of new biopolymers (e.g. PHA) from plastic-producing microorganisms, exploiting its highly diversified gut microbiota. TM’s use for plastic pollution management is controversial. However, TM microbiota is recognised as a source of plastic-degrading microorganisms. TM-based plastic degradation is improved by co-feeding with food loss and waste as a dietary energy source, thus valorising these low-value substrates in a circular economy perspective. TM as a bioreactor is a valid alternative to traditional PHA recovery systems with the advantage of obtaining, in addition to highly pure PHA, protein biomass and rearing waste from which to produce fertilisers, chitin/chitosan, biochar and biodiesel. Finally, we describe the critical aspects of these TM-based approaches, mainly related to TM mass production, eventual food safety problems, possible release of microplastics and lack of dedicated legislation.

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Section: Biodegradation Of Plastic Wastementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Biodegradation Of Plastic Wastementioning

confidence: 99%

Tenebrio molitor in the circular economy: a novel approach for plastic valorisation and PHA biological recovery

Sangiorgio

Verardi

Dimatteo

et al. 2021

Environ Sci Pollut Res

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“…Since mealworm was rst introduced as a plastic eater and digester in 2015, this coleopteran insect larva has been proven to survive by eating a series of non-hydrolyzable vinyl plastics, such as PS, PE, PP and PVC, as sole diet and effectively degrade them (Yang et al, 2015a;Brandon et al, 2018;Aboelkheir et al, 2019;Peng et al, 2020;. In the perspective of nutrient elements content, the petroleumderived vinyl plastics were carbon-rich but nitrogen-de cient diet.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nitrogen Fixation and Diazotrophic Community in Plastic-Eating Mealworms Tenebrio Molitor L.

Yang

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Mealworms, the larvae of a coleopteran insect Tenebrio molitor L., are capable of eating, living on and degrading the non-hydrolyzable vinyl plastics as sole diet. However, vinyl plastics are carbon-rich but nitrogen-deficient. It remains puzzling how plastic-eating mealworms overcome the nutritional obstacle of nitrogen limitation. Here, we provide the evidence for nitrogen-fixation activity within plastic-eating mealworms. Acetylene reduction assays illustrate that the nitrogen-fixing activity ranges from 12.3 ± 0.7 to 32.9 ± 9.3 nmol ethylene·h− 1·gut− 1 and the corresponding fixed nitrogen equivalents of protein are estimated as 8.6 to 23.0 µg per day per mealworm. Nature nitrogen isotopic analyses of plastic-eating mealworms provide further evidence for the importance of nitrogen fixation as a new nitrogen source. Eliminating the gut microbial microbiota with antibiotics impairs the mealworm’s ability to fix nitrogen from atmosphere, indicating the contribution of gut microbiota to nitrogen fixation. By using the traditional culture-dependent technique, PCR and RT-PCR of nifH gene, nitrogen-fixing bacteria diversity within the gut was detected and the genus Klebsiella was demonstrated to be an important nitrogen-fixing symbiont. These findings first build the relationship between the plastic degradation (carbon metabolism) and nitrogen fixation (nitrogen metabolism) within mealworms. Combined with previously reported plastic-degrading capability and nitrogen-fixing activity, mealworms may be potential candidates for up-recycling of plastic waste to produce protein sources.

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“…The composting and biodegradation processes of PVC are still controversial because of the possible formation of degradation products containing chlorine, which are not neutral for the environment. Peng et al (2020a) found that T. molitor larvae are capable of depolymerizing and biodegrading PVC materials rapidly to organic chlorinated intermediates but mineralization extent was very limited with only 2.9% of PVC conversion to chloride. The depolymerization stopped when gut microbes were suppressed with antibiotic gentamicin, indicating gut-microbial dependence, similar to observations recorded for PS degradation by T. molitor larvae.…”

Section: Polyvyinylchloridementioning

confidence: 99%

Microbial and Enzymatic Degradation of Synthetic Plastics

Montazer²,

et al. 2020

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Synthetic plastics are pivotal in our current lifestyle and therefore, its accumulation is a major concern for environment and human health. Petroleum-derived (petro-)polymers such as polyethylene (PE), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyurethane (PU), polystyrene (PS), polypropylene (PP), and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) are extremely recalcitrant to natural biodegradation pathways. Some microorganisms with the ability to degrade petro-polymers under in vitro conditions have been isolated and characterized. In some cases, the enzymes expressed by these microbes have been cloned and sequenced. The rate of polymer biodegradation depends on several factors including chemical structures, molecular weights, and degrees of crystallinity. Polymers are large molecules having both regular crystals (crystalline region) and irregular groups (amorphous region), where the latter provides polymers with flexibility. Highly crystalline polymers like polyethylene (95%), are rigid with a low capacity to resist impacts. PET-based plastics possess a high degree of crystallinity (30–50%), which is one of the principal reasons for their low rate of microbial degradation, which is projected to take more than 50 years for complete degraded in the natural environment, and hundreds of years if discarded into the oceans, due to their lower temperature and oxygen availability. The enzymatic degradation occurs in two stages: adsorption of enzymes on the polymer surface, followed by hydro-peroxidation/hydrolysis of the bonds. The sources of plastic-degrading enzymes can be found in microorganisms from various environments as well as digestive intestine of some invertebrates. Microbial and enzymatic degradation of waste petro-plastics is a promising strategy for depolymerization of waste petro-plastics into polymer monomers for recycling, or to covert waste plastics into higher value bioproducts, such as biodegradable polymers via mineralization. The objective of this review is to outline the advances made in the microbial degradation of synthetic plastics and, overview the enzymes involved in biodegradation.

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Biodegradation of Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) in Tenebrio molitor (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) larvae

Cited by 193 publications

References 49 publications

Tenebrio molitor in the circular economy: a novel approach for plastic valorisation and PHA biological recovery

Tenebrio molitor in the circular economy: a novel approach for plastic valorisation and PHA biological recovery

Nitrogen Fixation and Diazotrophic Community in Plastic-Eating Mealworms Tenebrio Molitor L.

Microbial and Enzymatic Degradation of Synthetic Plastics

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