Preliminary Studies on Microbial Degradation of Plastics Used in Packaging Potable Water in Nigeria

Odusanya, S.; Nkwogu, J.V; Alu, N.; Udo, G.A. Etuk; Ajao, J.A.; Osinkolu, G.A.; Uzomah, A.

doi:10.1016/s0189-7241(15)30078-3

Cited by 25 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…This method generally involves heating or cooling a sample at a controlled rate while monitoring its physical characteristics. − Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) measures heat capacity ( C p ), melting temperature ( T m ), and glass transition temperature ( T g ) . A decrease in T g during polymer degradation results from a decrease in the average chain length, due to the higher motility of shorter chains . Thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) records mass changes that occur upon heating.…”

Section: Methods For Assessing Plastics Degradationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Degradation Rates of Plastics in the Environment

Chamas

Moon

Zheng

et al. 2020

ACS Sustainable Chem. Eng.

1,995

1,058

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Plastic waste is currently generated at a rate approaching 400 Mt year–1. The amount of plastics accumulating in the environment is growing rapidly, yet our understanding of its persistence is very limited. This Perspective summarizes the existing literature on environmental degradation rates and pathways for the major types of thermoplastic polymers. A metric to harmonize disparate types of measurements, the specific surface degradation rate (SSDR), is implemented and used to extrapolate half-lives. SSDR values cover a very wide range, with some of the variability arising due to degradation studies conducted in different natural environments. SSDRs for high density polyethylene (HDPE) in the marine environment range from practically 0 to approximately 11 μm year–1. This approach yields a number of interesting insights. Using a mean SSDR for HDPE in the marine environment, linear extrapolation leads to estimated half-lives ranging from 58 years (bottles) to 1200 years (pipes). For example, SSDRs for HDPE and polylactic acid (PLA) are surprisingly similar in the marine environment, although PLA degrades approximately 20 times faster than HDPE on land. Our study highlights the need for better experimental studies under well-defined reaction conditions, standardized reporting of rates, and methods to simulate polymer degradation using.

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Section: Methods For Assessing Plastics Degradationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Degradation Rates of Plastics in the Environment

Chamas

Moon

Zheng

et al. 2020

ACS Sustainable Chem. Eng.

1,995

1,058

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…They found enhanced microbial growth with 26% surface hydrophobicity and 31% hydrolytic activity. Odusanya et al (2013) observed the surface deformities of plastic when treated with S. marcescens; further degradation was evaluated by the reduction in glass transition temperature (Tg) and reduction in crystallinity via DSC analysis. Similarly, Ambika et al (2015) identified a marine bacterial strain as Achromobacter denitrificans S1 for LDPE degradation that was determined by NMR, XRD, TGA and GCMS analysis.…”

Section: Polyethylenementioning

confidence: 99%

Review on the current status of polymer degradation: a microbial approach

Pathak

Bithel

2017

Bioresour. Bioprocess.

574

241

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Inertness and the indiscriminate use of synthetic polymers leading to increased land and water pollution are of great concern. Plastic is the most useful synthetic polymer, employed in wide range of applications viz. the packaging industries, agriculture, household practices, etc. Unpredicted use of synthetic polymers is leading towards the accumulation of increased solid waste in the natural environment. This affects the natural system and creates various environmental hazards. Plastics are seen as an environmental threat because they are difficult to degrade. This review describes the occurrence and distribution of microbes that are involved in the degradation of both natural and synthetic polymers. Much interest is generated by the degradation of existing plastics using microorganisms. It seems that biological agents and their metabolic enzymes can be exploited as a potent tool for polymer degradation. Bacterial and fungal species are the most abundant biological agents found in nature and have distinct degradation abilities for natural and synthetic polymers.

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“…Besides ecological studies addressing the concept of a 'microbial plastisphere', the aim to discover microorganisms capable of degrading synthetic polymers has motivated a number of microbial studies in the last few years [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27]. So far, microorganisms from more than 90 genera were found to possess plastic-degrading abilities [22].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Terrestrial Plastisphere: Diversity and Polymer-Colonizing Potential of Plastic-Associated Microbial Communities in Soil

et al. 2021

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The concept of a ‘plastisphere microbial community’ arose from research on aquatic plastic debris, while the effect of plastics on microbial communities in soils remains poorly understood. Therefore, we examined the inhabiting microbial communities of two plastic debris ecosystems with regard to their diversity and composition relative to plastic-free soils from the same area using 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing. Furthermore, we studied the plastic-colonizing potential of bacteria originating from both study sites as a measure of surface adhesion to UV-weathered polyethylene (PE) using high-magnification field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). The high plastic content of the soils was associated with a reduced alpha diversity and a significantly different structure of the microbial communities. The presence of plastic debris in soils did not specifically enrich bacteria known to degrade plastic, as suggested by earlier studies, but rather shifted the microbial community towards highly abundant autotrophic bacteria potentially tolerant to hydrophobic environments and known to be important for biocrust formation. The bacterial inoculates from both sites formed dense biofilms on the surface and in micrometer-scale surface cracks of the UV-weathered PE chips after 100 days of in vitro incubation with visible threadlike EPS structures and cross-connections enabling surface adhesion. High-resolution FESEM imaging further indicates that the microbial colonization catalyzed some of the surface degradation of PE. In essence, this study suggests the concept of a ‘terrestrial plastisphere’ as a diverse consortium of microorganisms including autotrophs and other pioneering species paving the way for those members of the consortium that may eventually break down the plastic compounds.

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Preliminary Studies on Microbial Degradation of Plastics Used in Packaging Potable Water in Nigeria

Cited by 25 publications

References 18 publications

Degradation Rates of Plastics in the Environment

Degradation Rates of Plastics in the Environment

Review on the current status of polymer degradation: a microbial approach

The Terrestrial Plastisphere: Diversity and Polymer-Colonizing Potential of Plastic-Associated Microbial Communities in Soil

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