TEXTILES.ORG
Turning waste plastic into a valuable resource is under investigation by researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), who fed it to bacteria and came up with a “bio-inspired spider silk.”
The scientists engineered Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which can eat polyethylene, to convert the carbon atoms in the plastic into a silk protein. The bacteria are basically fermenting the plastic.
After straining off the bacteria, purifying the protein and freeze-drying it, the researchers had a material that could be spun into thread or made into other products. The process is low energy and without toxic chemicals. They estimated the yield could rival some strains of bacteria used in conventional biomanufacturing.
The study notes that polyethylene makes up the largest proportion of plastic production and pollution, around one-third in each case. In 2022, world plastic production was more than 400 million metric tons (441 million U.S. tons), according to Statista.
The RPI researchers’ work was published in Microbial Cell Factories. Future inquiry by the scientists will focus on ways to scale up production and efficiency.
Kraig Biocraft Laboratories founder Kim Thompson, who is unaffiliated with the research, says, “The potential impact of creating technologies to address the growing plastic waste and convert that into useful and biodegradable materials is very exciting.”