Scientists enzyme PET bottles decomposes by 90% - Arhive
Scientists enzyme PET bottles
French scientists have discovered an enzyme that decomposes PET bottles by 90%
MOSCOW- Scientists have discovered an enzyme that decomposes plastic bottles by 90%. From recycled material, you can again get high-quality plastic, Meduza reports.
Scientists from the University of Toulouse synthesized an enzyme that breaks down 90% of polyethylene terephthalate (PET). A new study is published in the journal Nature.
Now only 30% of PET plastic is recycled. Existing methods give low quality new material – it loses its strength in processing, therefore, it has only limited use. At the same time, PET is one of the most common types – it accounts for about 70 of the 360 million tons of plastic produced annually in the world.
During the study, scientists tested 100 thousand different enzymes that could theoretically decompose PET. It turned out that an enzyme called kutinase, which was first discovered by Japanese scientists in 2012 and is obtained from compost leaves, is many times more effective than others. Scientists enzyme PET bottles
In the course of work with the help of protein engineering, the activity of the enzyme and its ability to destroy PET were further improved. Optimized cutinase decomposed 90% tons of PET plastic within 10 hours. Bottles made from recycled mass did not differ in quality from the original batch.Scientists enzyme PET bottles
The cost of the enzyme needed to process a ton of plastic was only 4% of the price of the primary plastic itself.
According to ScanPlast of Market Report, in February of this year, the estimated PET consumption in Russia decreased by 3% compared to the same indicator a year earlier and amounted to 53.89 thousand tons. According to the results of January – February 2020, 100.83 thousand tons of granulate was processed in Russia.
mrcplast.ru
Author:Anna Larionova
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