Boosting PET recycling with higher standards for laboratory experiments

New study shows how enzymatic plastic degradation could be brought one step closer to commercialisation

29-Nov-2023 - Many enzymes promise to break down plastic. But what works well in the lab often fails on a large scale. Now a new study by Gert Weber, HZB, Uwe Bornscheuer, University of Greifswald, and Alain Marty, Chief Scientific Officer of Carbios, shows how raising the bar for laboratory experiments could ...

Degradation of Plastic Waste using newly Developed Biocatalysts

Breakthrough in polyurethane and polyvinyl alcohol recycling

13-Feb-2023 - The plastic materials polyurethane and polyvinyl alcohol can now be degraded under mild conditions with the help of enzymes as biocatalysts. Scientists from the University of Greifswald have developed corresponding methods together with the German company Covestro and teams from Leipzig and ...

Circular economy for plastics

Biotechnological solutions for degradation and recycling of plastics

15-Oct-2020 - Plastics are wonderful materials. They are extremely versatile and of almost eternal durability. But that also causes a problem. After around 100 years of plastic production, plastic particles are almost everywhere: in ground water, the oceans, the air and the food chain. Across the globe, ...

"Molecular scissors" for plastic waste

15-Apr-2019 - A research team from the University of Greifswald and Helmholtz-Zentrum-Berlin (HZB) has solved the molecular structure of the important enzyme MHETase at BESSY II. MHETase was discovered in bacteria and together with a second enzyme - PETase - is able to break down the widely used plastic PET ...

Spin current from heat

New material increases efficiency

22-Nov-2017 - Electronic devices such as computers generate heat that mostly goes to waste. Physicists at Bielefeld University have found a way to use this energy: They apply the heat to generate magnetic signals known as 'spin currents'. In future, these signals could replace some of the electrical current in ...

Microbes as an Energy Source

A new generation of microbial fuel cells demonstrates amazingly high current density

25-Jun-2003 - Fuel cells could be the energy source of the future for many applications, including in vehicles. The direct transformation of chemical to electrical energy without a detour involving combustion is what makes this technology so environmentally friendly. The breakthrough into broad usage hasn't ...