Biorenewable and circular polydiketoenamine plastics

Amid growing concerns over the human health and environmental impacts of plastic waste, the most promising solution would be to build a circular plastics economy where sustainability considerations dictate the full life cycle of plastics use including replacing petrochemicals with biorenewables. Her...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature sustainability 2023-11, Vol.6 (11), p.1426-1435
Main Authors: Demarteau, Jeremy, Cousineau, Benjamin, Wang, Zilong, Bose, Baishakhi, Cheong, Seokjung, Lan, Guangxu, Baral, Nawa R., Teat, Simon J., Scown, Corinne D., Keasling, Jay D., Helms, Brett A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
631/61/54
639/166/898
639/638/455/941
704/172/4081
BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
Biomaterials
Carbon sources
Chemical engineering
Circular economy
Earth and Environmental Science
Environment
Environmental impact
Fermentation
INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
Petrochemicals
Plastic debris
Plastics
Polymer synthesis
Polymers
Resins
Sustainable Development
Systems analysis
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Summary:Amid growing concerns over the human health and environmental impacts of plastic waste, the most promising solution would be to build a circular plastics economy where sustainability considerations dictate the full life cycle of plastics use including replacing petrochemicals with biorenewables. Here we show that by incorporating the polyketide triacetic acid lactone (TAL) in polydiketoenamines (PDK) we increase the working temperature of these circular plastics, opening the door wider to applications where circularity is urgently needed. By varying the number of carbons of TAL-derived monomers, both polymer properties and recycling efficiency are affected. Simply using glucose as the main carbon source, we engineered a process for producing bioTAL under fed-batch fermentation. A systems analysis of this bioprocess under different scenarios quantifies the environmental and economic benefits of PDK plastics and the risks when implemented at an industrial scale, providing opportunities in biorenewable circularity. A circular economy for plastics offers a promising solution to the pollution crisis. Here the authors take advantage of the unique chemistry of polydiketoenamine resins, showing how plastics can be biorenewable and recyclable by incorporating biosourced triacetic acid lactone.
ISSN:2398-9629
2398-9629
DOI:10.1038/s41893-023-01160-2