Biodegradation and Mineralization of Polystyrene by Plastic-Eating Mealworms: Part 1. Chemical and Physical Characterization and Isotopic Tests

被引:446
作者
Yang, Yu [1 ]
Yang, Jun [1 ]
Wu, Wei-Min [3 ]
Zhao, Jiao [4 ]
Song, Yiling [2 ]
Gao, Longcheng [1 ]
Yang, Ruifu [4 ]
Jiang, Lei [1 ]
机构
[1] Beihang Univ, Sch Chem & Environm, Minist Educ, Key Lab Bioinspired Smart Interfacial Sci & Techn, Beijing 100191, Peoples R China
[2] Beihang Univ, Sch Biol Sci & Med Engn, Beijing 100191, Peoples R China
[3] Stanford Univ, Ctr Sustainable Dev & Global Competitiveness, William & Cloy Codiga Resource Recovery Res Ctr, Dept Civil & Environm Engn, Stanford, CA 94305 USA
[4] BGI Shenzhen, Shenzhen Key Lab Bioenergy, Shenzhen 518083, Guangdong, Peoples R China
基金
中国国家自然科学基金;
关键词
POLYETHYLENE; SOIL; NMR; ACCUMULATION; FORMALDEHYDE; DEGRADATION; TERMITES; WAXWORMS; DEBRIS; OCEAN;
D O I
10.1021/acs.est.5b02661
中图分类号
X [环境科学、安全科学];
学科分类号
08 ; 0830 ;
摘要
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 C-13 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 alpha C-13- or beta C-13-labeled PS confirmed that the C-13-labeled PS was mineralized to (CO2)-C-13 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.
引用
收藏
页码:12080 / 12086
页数:7
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