Department of Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Pondicherry University, Puducherry, India.
Environ Technol. 2021 Feb;42(5):717-730. doi: 10.1080/09593330.2019.1643925. Epub 2019 Aug 20.
The present study reports the role of pretreatment for the enhanced biodegradation of low-density polyethylene (LDPE) with (Greater waxworm). The pretreatment of the LDPE film was carried out under solar radiation. The pretreated LDPE (PTLDPE) and untreated LDPE (UTLDPE) were characterized with AFM, FTIR and H NMR techniques. The qualitative analysis for the biodegradation of pretreated and untreated LDPE was examined by analysing the Excreta residue (ER) of fed with LDPE. The mineralization of the ER of waxworm fed on Waxcomb (WC), UTLDPE and PTLDPE were studied by analysing the changes in physiochemical properties through FTIR, H NMR and GC-MS techniques in addition to weight loss percentage of PTLDPE and survival rates of the tested greater waxworms. Solar pretreatment of LDPE led to increased surface roughness which favoured the waxworms to feed voraciously on PTLDPE. The post degradation studies of Waxcomb (WC), PTLDPE and UTLDPE showed 92.03 ± 2.1%, 18.57 ± 1.8% and 55.8 ± 1.2% weight loss, respectively. The FTIR, H NMR and GC-MS results confirm that the ER of waxworm fed on WC, UTLDPE and PTLDPE showed the presence of new carbonyl and alcoholic groups with increase in unsaturated hydrocarbon indicating enhanced mineralization of LDPE. The efficient mineralization of PTLDPE by waxworm was observed without affecting its survivability. A plausible mechanism of LDPE degradation has also been proposed. The rapid and cost effective biodegradation of PTLDPE through waxworm paves a new and facile route for hazardous plastic waste treatment.
本研究报告了预处理在提高低密度聚乙烯（LDPE）生物降解性中的作用（大蜡螟）。LDPE 薄膜的预处理是在太阳辐射下进行的。用 AFM、FTIR 和 H NMR 技术对预处理的 LDPE（PTLDPE）和未处理的 LDPE（UTLDPE）进行了表征。通过分析用 LDPE 喂养的蜡虫的排泄物（ER），对预处理和未处理的 LDPE 的生物降解进行了定性分析。通过分析蜡虫食用蜡comb（WC）、UTLDPE 和 PTLDPE 的 ER 的理化性质的变化，以及 PTLDPE 的失重百分比和测试的大蜡虫的存活率，研究了蜡虫食用 WC、PTLDPE 和 UTLDPE 的矿化情况。LDPE 的太阳预处理导致表面粗糙度增加，这有利于蜡虫贪婪地食用 PTLDPE。Waxcomb（WC）、PTLDPE 和 UTLDPE 的降解后研究表明，分别损失了 92.03±2.1%、18.57±1.8%和 55.8±1.2%的重量。FTIR、H NMR 和 GC-MS 结果证实，蜡虫食用 WC、UTLDPE 和 PTLDPE 的 ER 中存在新的羰基和醇基，不饱和烃增加，表明 LDPE 的矿化增强。蜡虫对 PTLDPE 的有效矿化没有影响其存活率。还提出了一种 LDPE 降解的可能机制。蜡虫对 PTLDPE 的快速、经济有效的生物降解为处理危险塑料废物开辟了一条新的简便途径。
