2002 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary

Degradation of Polyethylene and Nylon by White Rot Fungi and its related enzymes

Research Project

Project/Area Number	13660161
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Section	一般
Research Field	林産学
Research Institution	Shizuoka University
Principal Investigator	NISHIDA Tomoaki Shizuoka University, Faculty of Agriculture, Professor, 農学部, 教授 (10252165)
Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha)	HIRAI Hirofumi Shizuoka University, Faculty of Agriculture, Assistant Professor, 農学部, 助手 (70322138)
Project Period (FY)	2001 – 2002
Keywords	Synthetic polymer / Polyethylene degradation / Nylon degradation / Laccase / 1-Hydroxybenzotriazole / Ligninilytic enzyme
Research Abstract	We investigated whether the laccase-mediator system (LMS) with 1-hydroxybenzotriazole (HBT) as a mediator could degrade high-molecular-weight polyethylene and nylon-66 membranes. The LMS markedly reduced the elongation and tensile strength of these membranes. After 3 days of treatment with the LMS, the Mw of polyethylene decreased from 242,000 to 28,300, and that of nylon-66 from 79,300 to 14,700. The LMS also decreased the polydispersity (Mw/Mn) of polyethylene and nylon-66. Furthermore, these reductions in elongation, tensile strength, and molecular weight were accompanied by morphological disintegration of the polyethylene and nylon-66 membranes. These results strongly suggest that the LMS with HBT can effectively degrade polyethylene and nylon-66.

(2 results)