I-Corps: Biodegradable plastics that incorporate plastic degrading enzymes

这个i-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是制造环保塑料。可堆肥塑料是该领域增长最快的创新之一，有望实现循环材料经济。不幸的是，目前全国范围内很难获得工业堆肥，基础设施建设成本高昂。我们的技术简化了这种降解过程，只需要水和热，就可以生产出容易堆肥的小分子，或者重新变成高质量的塑料。全球塑料市场价值2340亿美元，成功的商业化可以对环境可持续性产生积极影响，同时满足行业保持现代生活质量的需求。这项技术可能会被用于广泛的应用领域的解决方案，从工业化学到能源发电再到生物技术。这个i-Corps项目支持一类被称为随机杂聚合物(RHP)的材料的翻译工作。RHP有效地稳定了外来环境中的酶，如有机溶剂或塑料中的酶。酶是自然界的化学家，在细胞内以无与伦比的效率和专一性进行化学转化。然而，酶通常是脆弱的，一旦从细胞中移除，表现就会很差。拟议的RHP技术使酶能够被覆盖在纳米级的外壳中，使它们免受环境的影响，而不会损害它们的功能。RHP可以用来将降解塑料材料的酶嵌入到塑料中。一旦触发，塑料就会迅速而完全地生物降解，不会留下微塑料。这些单体可以被重新捕获和重复使用，以制造新的塑料或作为堆肥处理。这些材料也可以使用目前的制造技术进行加工。总而言之，这为生产满足工业需求的材料提供了机会，同时以最少的基础设施投资提供了更好的使用寿命。更广泛地说，RHP提供了天然或工程酶的功能，并将塑料作为一种新的实用方法。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is to make environmentally friendly plastics. Compostable plastics, one of the fastest growing innovations in the space, promises to enable a circular materials economy. Unfortunately, there is currently poor access to industrial compost nationally, and building infrastructure is costly. Our technology streamlines this degradation process, requiring only water and heat, to produce small molecules than can be readily composted, or turned back into high quality plastics. The global plastic market is $234 B, and successful commercialization could positively impact environmental sustainability while meeting the needs of industry to maintain modern quality of life. The technology can potentially be used for solutions across a breadth of applications, ranging from industrial chemistry to energy generation to biotechnology.This I-Corps project supports efforts toward translation of a class of materials called random heteropolymers (RHPs). RHPs effectively stabilize enzymes in foreign environments, such as organic solvents or within plastics. Enzymes are nature’s chemists, performing chemical transformations with unparalleled efficiency and specificity within cells. However, enzymes are typically fragile and perform poorly, if at all, once removed from the cell. The proposed RHP technology enables enzymes to be covered in a nano-scale shell that shields them from the environment without harming their function. RHPs can be used to embed the enzymes that degrade plastic materials inside of the plastics. Upon triggering, the plastics biodegrade rapidly and completely, leaving behind no microplastics. The monomers can be recaptured and reused to make new plastics or disposed of as compost. The materials can also be processed using current manufacturing techniques. Altogether, this provides an opportunity to produce materials that meet the needs of industry while providing a better end of life with minimal investment in infrastructure. More broadly, RHPs offer the functionality of natural or engineered enzymes with the utility of plastics as a novel approach.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.