Advancing MP1, a novel depolymerase for perpetual cradle-to-cradle plastics recycling

推进 MP1，一种用于永久塑料回收的新型解聚酶

• 批准号: 10004704
• 金额: $ 38.49万
• 依托单位: EPOCH BIODESIGN LTD
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Collaborative R&D
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2021 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=10004704
• 关键词: Advancing; MP1; novel; depolymerase; perpetual

**PROBLEM**Plastic packaging, and in particular plastic film, can pose significant challenges to recyclers. It is a major problem as it is often co-laminated, containing additives, and contaminated. It can also damage sorting machinery.The widespread collection and reprocessing of plastic film in the UK (and in most developed countries) is limited; just 10% of local authorities in the UK accept all types of plastic film for recycling, thus it frequently reaches landfill.In the UK, 1.2 million tonnes of plastic film were used in 2017\. Based on current collection rates, this suggests that significant amounts of plastic film reach landfill each year in the UK.**OPPORTUNITY**Mellizyme have identified a novel enzyme 'MP1' that can degrade certain bonds within plastics commonly used in plastic films to liberate small molecules.Standard physico-chemical recycling methods leads to loss of plastic quality between recycling rounds. When degraded beyond re-use, this the creates waste for incineration (generating CO2) or landfill (which can leach chemicals into the environment).This is problem is overcome by MP1, as the biological degradation of the plastic film polymers maintains integrity of the small molecules liberated. This supports perpetual cradle-to-cradle recycling.There is significant market opportunity for MP1; globally, just 9% of the 7.82Bn tons of plastic produced in 2015 was recycled, suggestive of a significant opportunity for recyclers to valorise plastics that would be otherwise destined for landfill or incineration.**KEY PROJECT OBJECTIVES**Maturation of Mellizyme technology from TRL3 to TRL5\. The project outputs are critical for subsequent industrial-scale demonstration.**INNOVATIONS**Current state-of-the-art approaches:* Multilayer plastic films can be deconstructed, but this requires energy and chemical-intensive solvent-targeted recovery and precipitation.* Several microbes can degrade some plastics, but this appears to be only of low molecular weight components, rather than the long-chain polymer backbones.* An enzyme isolated from a tree has demonstrated activity against plastic resins, but the reaction mixture requires triazole supplementation.MP1 improvements over this state-of-the-art:* MP1 has activity across many plastic types within different 'families' of plastics.* MP1 does not require any harsh chemical solvents to be used as adjuvants to the reaction.* MP1-type enzymes are fast, with turnover numbers \>1000^s-1 (for comparison, the best enzyme that degrades the ester PET has a turnover number of just 1.2^s-1).

** 问题 ** 塑料包装，特别是塑料薄膜，可能对回收商构成重大挑战。这是一个主要的问题，因为它往往是共同层压，含有添加剂，和污染。在英国（以及大多数发达国家），塑料薄膜的广泛收集和再处理是有限的;英国只有10%的地方当局接受所有类型的塑料薄膜进行回收，因此它经常进入垃圾填埋场。在英国，2017年使用了120万吨塑料薄膜。根据目前的收集率，这表明英国每年有大量的塑料薄膜进入垃圾填埋场。机会 ** 美力酶发现了一种新型酶“MP 1”，它可以降解塑料薄膜中常用的塑料中的某些键，释放出小分子。标准的物理化学回收方法会导致塑料质量在回收轮次之间损失。当降解到无法再利用时，会产生用于焚烧（产生CO2）或填埋（可将化学品沥滤到环境中）的废物。MP 1解决了这个问题，因为塑料薄膜聚合物的生物降解保持了释放的小分子的完整性。MP 1有着巨大的市场机会; 2015年全球生产的78.2亿吨塑料中只有9%被回收，这表明回收商有很大的机会来提高塑料的价值，否则这些塑料将被填埋或焚烧。** ** Mellizyme技术从TRL 3成熟到TRL 5\。项目产出对随后的工业规模示范至关重要。** 目前最先进的方法：* 多层塑料薄膜可以被分解，但这需要能源和化学密集型的溶剂目标回收和沉淀。*几种微生物可以降解一些塑料，但这似乎只是低分子量组分，而不是长链聚合物主链。从树中分离的一种酶已被证明对塑料树脂具有活性，但反应混合物需要三唑消除。MP 1在这一最新技术水平上的改进：* MP 1对不同“家族”塑料中的许多塑料类型都具有活性。* MP 1不需要使用任何苛刻的化学溶剂作为反应助剂。* MP 1型酶的速度很快，其周转数> 1000 ^s-1（相比之下，降解酯PET的最佳酶的周转数仅为1.2 ^s-1）。