Schell Kristina, Göbbels Simone, Pastor Linda, Donets Sergii, Knopp Daniela, Bamberg Oskar, Jäger Gernot, Schwaneberg Ulrich, Reisky Lukas
Biotechnology, Digital R&D, Covestro Deutschland AG, Kaiser-Wilhelm-Allee 60, 51373, Leverkusen, Germany.
Institute of Biotechnology, RWTH Aachen University, Worringerweg 3, 52074, Aachen, Germany.
ChemSusChem. 2025 Sep 1;18(17):e202500944. doi: 10.1002/cssc.202500944. Epub 2025 Aug 9.
While synthetic polymers are indispensable for the sustainable transformation of society, the increasing production needs to be combined with adequate recycling strategies. As conventional recycling processes often result in quality losses or are complicated by the presence of additives and other polymers, there is a high need for the development of new technologies. This study presents a first efficient approach to enzymatically recycle polycarbonate (PC), a high-performance polymer. Through an extensive enzyme screening, 9 cutinases are found to exhibit hydrolytic activity toward PC in aqueous buffer enabling the recovery of bisphenol A (BPA) as a valuable monomer under mild reaction conditions. Notably, the enzymes ThcCut1-ACCG and LCC-ICCG demonstrate excellent performance by achieving conversions of 20-40% under optimized reaction conditions. Impressively, full conversion of PC can be achieved by supplementing dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO; 30% v/v). These findings represent an excellent foundation to develop sustainable PC recycling processes for the circular economy.
虽然合成聚合物对于社会的可持续转型不可或缺,但产量的增加需要与适当的回收策略相结合。由于传统的回收工艺往往会导致质量损失,或者因添加剂和其他聚合物的存在而变得复杂,因此迫切需要开发新技术。本研究提出了一种首次有效酶促回收聚碳酸酯(PC)(一种高性能聚合物)的方法。通过广泛的酶筛选,发现9种角质酶在水性缓冲液中对PC表现出水解活性,能够在温和的反应条件下回收双酚A(BPA)作为有价值的单体。值得注意的是,酶ThcCut1-ACCG和LCC-ICCG在优化的反应条件下实现了20%-40%的转化率,表现出优异的性能。令人印象深刻的是,通过添加二甲基亚砜(DMSO;30% v/v)可以实现PC的完全转化。这些发现为开发用于循环经济的可持续PC回收工艺奠定了良好的基础。