Assessing labelled carbon assimilation from poly butylene adipate-co-terephthalate (PBAT) monomers during thermophilic anaerobic digestion

Jan Struckmann Poulsen, Alba Trueba-Santiso, Juan Lema, Simon Gregersen Echers, Reinhard Wimmer, Jeppe Lund Nielsen*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

12 Citations (Scopus)
101 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

PBAT (poly butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) is a widely used biodegradable plastic, but the knowledge about its metabolization in anaerobic environments is very limited. In this study, the anaerobic digester sludge from a municipal wastewater treatment plant was used as inoculum to investigate the biodegradability of PBAT monomers in thermophilic conditions. The research employs a combination of 13C-labelled monomers and proteogenomics to track the labelled carbon and identify the microorganisms involved. A total of 122 labelled peptides of interest were identified for adipic acid (AA) and 1,4-butanedio (BD). Through the time-dependent isotopic enrichment and isotopic profile distributions, Bacteroides, Ichthyobacterium, and Methanosarcina were proven to be directly involved in the metabolization of at least one monomer. This study provides a first insight into the identity and genomic potential of microorganisms responsible for biodegradability of PBAT monomers during anaerobic digestion under thermophilic conditions.
Original languageEnglish
Article number129430
JournalBioresource Technology
Volume385
ISSN0960-8524
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Oct 2023

Keywords

  • Anaerobic biodegradation
  • Isotope labelling
  • PBAT
  • Plastic
  • Proteogenomics

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Assessing labelled carbon assimilation from poly butylene adipate-co-terephthalate (PBAT) monomers during thermophilic anaerobic digestion'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this