Pre-Treated Pet Microplastics Biodegradation Products Identified by GCMS

Abstract

Introduction: Our lives now cannot function without plastic, and completely reducing plastic usage is a challenging goal. Plastic is refractory and non-biodegradable, which causes tones of plastic waste to accumulate in landfills and waterways, threatening human health as well as marine life. Consequently, Microplastics have recently been considered as an emerging class of contaminants due to their ecotoxicological impact on the aquatic environment as well as soil matrix.

Objective: The objective of the present investigation is to use GC-MS and FTIR to assess the extent of Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) microplastics biodegradation.

Methods:  PET Plastic degradation bacteria were isolation form old PET plastic waste surface and it was identified by 16s RNA methods. Biodegradation of pre-treated PET microplastics and without pre-treated PET microplastics incubated in MSM medium with bacteria. The by-product of biodegradation was analysis by GCMS methods from MSM medium after one incubation.  

Result: When comparing UV light-treated PET microplastics to untreated PET microplastics  after incubated with bacteria in MSM medium, we found by-products of hydrolysis such as diethyl phthalate, bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate and Bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate from UV-PETMP  by GCMS. It could be a bacterial action on PET plastics. A potential partial solution to the prevalent planetary plastic accumulating is the use of bacterial consortia for PET biodegradation.