Scientists discover enzyme which breaks down PET plastic 'in hours'

摘要

Scientists working for industrial chemistry firm Carbios have discovered an enzyme which can reportedly break down PET plastics for recycling into food-grade material in hours, rather than weeks. The discovery of the new PET hydrolase enzyme was reported in the scientific journal Nature, which claims that the enzyme can break down PET plastics into their individual chemical components in as little as ten hours, allowing the creation of new high-quality, food-grade PET packaging. PET is very difficult to break down, and many thermomechanical recycling processes produce lower-quality plastic which is then used in non-food related products such as clothing and carpets. According to the journal, the PET hydrolase enzyme can biologically depolymer-ise 90% of PET polymers in ten hours, a significant upswing from the initial degradation yield of 1 % after several weeks when using other enzymes. The journal stated: "This highly efficient, optimised enzyme outperforms all PET hydrolases reported so far", including an enzyme from the bacterium Ideonella sakaiensis strain 201-F6, which had generated interest.