Engineered yeast for converting plastic and biomass compounds to food additives
1–10 of 107 posts
Re: Engineered yeast for converting plastic and biomass compounds to food additives
#2Is there any of this ”bacteria converting plastic to fuel/food/neutral stuff“ actually applied anywhere at scale under economically reasonably conditions?
Re: Engineered yeast for converting plastic and biomass compounds to food additives
#3There was a Doomwatch episode on his subject with airliners falling out of the sky bcause all the plastic had been eaten away.
Re: Engineered yeast for converting plastic and biomass compounds to food additives
#4Maybe the only thing more worrisome than microplastics everywhere is unstoppable plastics eating organisms everywhere, eating through all plastics everywhere.
Re: Engineered yeast for converting plastic and biomass compounds to food additives
#5Maybe the only thing more worrisome than microplastics everywhere is unstoppable plastics eating organisms everywhere, eating through all plastics everywhere.
There’s a fantastically silly but fun book about this the name of which eludes me.
Re: Engineered yeast for converting plastic and biomass compounds to food additives
#6[flagged]
Re: Engineered yeast for converting plastic and biomass compounds to food additives
#7If you don't eat your biomass compound goo, you can't have any PlastiYum bacterial sludge
Re: Engineered yeast for converting plastic and biomass compounds to food additives
#8Honestly at this point I think the way to go may be to stop using plastics where they're not absolutely required, and to subsequently burn what goes into landfill while producing electricity and reclaiming heat. Better that than this.
Re: Engineered yeast for converting plastic and biomass compounds to food additives
#9Maybe the only thing more worrisome than microplastics everywhere is unstoppable plastics eating organisms everywhere, eating through all plastics everywhere.
Usually these bioengineered yeasts need pretty specific growth conditions in order to eat in this case ethylene glycol, not raw finished plastic. In this case they say "plastic-derived substrates" which means they're pre-processing the waste plastic.
Re: Engineered yeast for converting plastic and biomass compounds to food additives
#10In 2011 researchers identified a fungus named pestalotiopsis microspora. It gained widespread attention because it can digest polyurethane plastic and survive entirely in anaerobic conditions, making it a prime candidate for deployment at the bottom of landfills.
I for one look forward to serving this underground deity.