SBIR Phase I: Production of mealworm biomass and recovery of resources from plastic wastes

这项小企业创新研究第一阶段项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力包括开发生物降解废塑料的新方法。塑料垃圾是一个严重的环境负担。每年使用的塑料超过3亿吨，导致数百万吨的持久性塑料废物，其中一些可能需要长达600年才能降解。粉虫（tenbrio molitor）可以消化聚苯乙烯，也被称为聚苯乙烯泡沫塑料，这是一种持久而广泛的塑料废物来源。Beta Hatch公司正在开发一种减少塑料垃圾的新方法。当粉虫进食时，它们将聚苯乙烯转化为蛋白质和生物废物（草），这两者都是动物饲料或肥料的宝贵营养投入。该项目将筛选粉虫菌株，以确定最佳的优化候选菌株，开发聚苯乙烯饲料混合物以提高消化效率，并测试最终产品，以了解这些产品如何用于商业用途。该项目还将确认用于生产非食用动物和纤维作物的聚苯乙烯衍生生物制品（粉虫蛋白和草籽）的安全性。这项工作将支持开发新的和商业上可行的塑料生物降解方法。本一期研究项目的技术目标是开发粉虫用于塑料生物修复的商业潜力。聚苯乙烯（PS）是一种人工合成的长链烃聚合物。它是一种主要的废物，占用了垃圾填埋场30%的空间。相邻苯乙烯单体之间形成的强分子键使得聚苯乙烯极其稳定，因此极难降解。在有益的肠道微生物的帮助下，粉虫是唯一被证实能够解聚和矿化聚苯乙烯的生物。然而，为了使聚苯乙烯生物降解具有商业可行性，需要提高消化效率，并且需要评估PS饲养所得产品的安全性。现有研究表明，PS的消化存在菌株特异性差异，在没有额外营养的情况下，PS的消化效率仅为~50%。此外，食用PS可能会降低粉虫的生育能力，这将限制粉虫消化PS的长期商业可行性。该项目将确定具有高消化聚苯乙烯（PS）潜力的粉虫品系，测试培育具有增强PS能力的动物的能力，开发具有最佳PS生物消化效率的饲料混合物，量化PS取食对粉虫生命周期的影响，并收集PS衍生生物质和草制品毒性的初步数据。这些实验支持以下目标：1)确定扩大粉虫对PS生物消化的途径，2)将PS废物整合为粉虫养殖的饲料，以及3)收集有关聚苯乙烯消化最终产品可销售性的关键数据。这个可行性项目&amp；#8232；还将促进与客户和监管机构就塑料生物消化相关的商业挑战和机遇进行对话。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project includes the development of new methods to biodegrade waste plastics. Plastic waste is an significant environmental burden. Over 300 million tons of plastic are used each year, resulting in millions of tons of persistent plastic waste, some of which can take up to 600 years to degrade. Mealworms (Tenebrio molitor) can digest polystyrene, also known as Styrofoam, a persistent and widespread source of plastic waste. Beta Hatch Inc. is developing a novel approach to reduce plastic waste. As the mealworms feed, they convert polystyrene into protein and biological waste (frass), both valuable nutrient inputs for animal feed or for fertilizer. This project will screen mealworm strains to identify the best candidates for optimization, develop polystyrene feed mixes to improve the efficiency of digestion, and test the end-products to understand how these might be commercial used. The project will also confirm the safety of polystyrene derived biological products (mealworm protein and frass) for use in the production of non-food animals and fiber crops. This work will support the development of novel and commercially viable approaches for biodegradation of plastics.The technical objectives in this Phase I research project are to develop the commercial potential of mealworms for plastic bioremediation. Polystyrene (PS) is a synthetic long-chain hydrocarbon polymer. It is a major waste product that takes up 30% of landfill space. The formation of strong molecular bonds between neighboring styrene monomers makes polystyrene extremely stable and therefore extremely difficult to degrade. Mealworms are the only proven organism capable of depolymerizing and mineralizing polystyrene, with the help of beneficial gut microbes. However, for polystyrene biodegradation to be commercially viable, the efficiency of digestion needs to be increased, and the safety of products derived from PS feeding needs to be assessed. Existing work has shown that there is strain-specific variability in PS digestion, and that PS digestion efficiency is only ~50% without additional nutrients. Further, PS feeding may decrease the fertility of mealworms, which would limit the long-term commercial feasibility of mealworm based PS-digestion. This project will identify mealworm strains that show high potential for polystyrene (PS) digestion, test the ability to breed animals with enhanced PS capability, develop feed mixes for optimal efficiency of PS biodigestion, quantify impacts of PS feeding on mealworm life cycles, and collect preliminary data on toxicity of PS-derived biomass and frass products. These experiments support the objectives of 1) identifying pathways for scaling up PS biodigestion by mealworms, 2) integration of PS wastes as a feed for mealworm farming, and 3) collection of key data on the marketability of end-products from polystyrene digestion. This feasibility project
will also catalyze conversations with customers and regulators on the business challenges and opportunities associated with plastic biodigestion.