Shereen Muhammad Adnan, Satti Sadia Mehmood, Abbasi Asim, Atiq Naima, Yousafi Qudsia, Ahmed Safia, Parveen Kousar, Rebouh Nazih Y
Department of Microbiology, Kohsar University Murree, Murree 47150, Pakistan.
Alpha Genomics (Pvt), PWD Society, Islamabad 45320, Pakistan.
Life (Basel). 2025 May 28;15(6):869. doi: 10.3390/life15060869.
Biochemical monomer upcycling of plastic waste and its conversion into value-added products is deemed necessary, as it provides a greener and more sustainable solution to plastic waste management. In the current study, the polystyrene (PS) biodegradation potential of the fungus NA3 was evaluated using various analytical techniques, such as Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), gel permeation chromatography (GPC), and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The biodegradation capacity of the fungal strain was further evaluated using a carbon dioxide (CO) evolution test, which showed that the PS films treated with NA3 produced more CO, indicating the strain's ability to successfully utilize PS as a carbon source. The FTIR analysis of the PS films treated with NA3 showed modifications in the polymer chemical structure, including the formation of carbonyl and hydroxyl groups, which suggests the enzymatic dissociation of the polymer and the associated biodegradation mechanism. Pretreatments were found to be effective in modifying the polymer's properties, making it more susceptible to microbial degradation, thus further accelerating the biodegradation process. The current study strongly advocates that (NA3) can be effectively used for the biochemical monomer recovery of PS waste and could be further utilized in the upcycling of plastic waste for its conversion into value-added products under the concept of circular economy.
塑料废物的生化单体升级循环及其转化为增值产品被认为是必要的，因为它为塑料废物管理提供了一种更绿色、更可持续的解决方案。在当前的研究中，使用了各种分析技术，如傅里叶变换红外光谱（FTIR）、扫描电子显微镜（SEM）、凝胶渗透色谱（GPC）和高效液相色谱（HPLC），来评估真菌NA3对聚苯乙烯（PS）的生物降解潜力。使用二氧化碳（CO）释放试验进一步评估了该真菌菌株的生物降解能力，结果表明，用NA3处理的PS薄膜产生了更多的CO，表明该菌株能够成功地将PS用作碳源。对用NA3处理的PS薄膜进行的FTIR分析显示了聚合物化学结构的变化，包括羰基和羟基的形成，这表明了聚合物的酶解作用及相关的生物降解机制。发现预处理在改变聚合物性质方面是有效的，使其更易于微生物降解，从而进一步加速生物降解过程。当前的研究强烈主张，（NA3）可有效地用于PS废物的生化单体回收，并可在循环经济概念下进一步用于塑料废物的升级循环，将其转化为增值产品。
