Biodegradation and Mineralization of Polystyrene by Plastic-Eating Mealworms: Part 1. Chemical and Physical Characterization and Isotopic Tests
| Autor: | Jun Yang, Longcheng Gao, Jiao Zhao, Ruifu Yang, Lei Jiang, Yiling Song, Wei-Min Wu, Yu Yang |
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| Rok vydání: | 2015 |
| Předmět: |
Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy
Normal diet Gel permeation chromatography Eating chemistry.chemical_compound Spectroscopy Fourier Transform Infrared Magic angle spinning Animals Environmental Chemistry Tenebrio Carbon Isotopes Chromatography Bran Chemistry Depolymerization fungi General Chemistry Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy Carbon Dioxide Biodegradation Lipids Carbon Biodegradation Environmental Larva Thermogravimetry Chromatography Gel Polystyrenes Polystyrene Plastics |
| Zdroj: | Environmental Science & Technology. 49:12080-12086 |
| ISSN: | 1520-5851 0013-936X |
| Popis: | Polystyrene (PS) is generally considered to be durable and resistant to biodegradation. Mealworms (the larvae of Tenebrio molitor Linnaeus) from different sources chew and eat Styrofoam, a common PS product. The Styrofoam was efficiently degraded in the larval gut within a retention time of less than 24 h. Fed with Styrofoam as the sole diet, the larvae lived as well as those fed with a normal diet (bran) over a period of 1 month. The analysis of fecula egested from Styrofoam-feeding larvae, using gel permeation chromatography (GPC), solid-state (13)C cross-polarization/magic angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance (CP/MAS NMR) spectroscopy, and thermogravimetric Fourier transform infrared (TG-FTIR) spectroscopy, substantiated that cleavage/depolymerization of long-chain PS molecules and the formation of depolymerized metabolites occurred in the larval gut. Within a 16 day test period, 47.7% of the ingested Styrofoam carbon was converted into CO2 and the residue (ca. 49.2%) was egested as fecula with a limited fraction incorporated into biomass (ca. 0.5%). Tests with α (13)C- or β (13)C-labeled PS confirmed that the (13)C-labeled PS was mineralized to (13)CO2 and incorporated into lipids. The discovery of the rapid biodegradation of PS in the larval gut reveals a new fate for plastic waste in the environment. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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