In order to improve recycling of plastics, the European project UPLIFT will introduce biological depolymerization technology as an addition and integration to established processes. Thereby, BOKU will contribute with expertise on enzymatic recycling processes. Enzymes have shown high potential especially for the recovery of building blocks from blended materials which will be discussed here. In that way, the recovered components can be used for bioproduction (in case of glucose from cellulosic parts) or reused to produce textiles and other materials (synthetic components) . In more complex materials, this strategy allows step-wise recovery and recycling of all building blocks. Despite the high potential of biocatalysts for this purpose, yet more efficient enzymes are required for economic industrial implementation. Here, it will consequently be demonstrated how enzyme discovery, design and engineering can lead to more powerful tools for polymer recycling. This includes modern strategies for enzyme identification in nature (metagenomics, proteomics) as well as design and engineering of both active site architecture and enzyme/polymer sorption processes.
Announcement: Guest Lecture in May!
We are happy to welcome our friend Georg Gübitz for a guest lecture on Enzyme based recycling processes on Friday, 7th of May 2021, at 11 a.m. (UTC +1).