Microbial Depolymerization

Abstract

Depolymerization is a tertiary recycling technique which represents the transformation of polymer chain into monomer units along with oligomers. Depolymerization of polymers with heterofunctional groups can be targeted by microorganisms, especially by fungi. Polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyurethane (PU), polyester are among such polymers. Hydrolysis is the main cause behind microbial degradation, and hydrophobic surface binding of involving enzyme is responsible for microscopic description. Microbial participation techniques can be modified by using a chemical-assisted hybrid technique, and even halogenated polymer is dechlorinated by this technique.