Xref: utzoo sci.environment:2386 sci.bio:2216 sci.chem:428
Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!iuvax!silver!chiaravi
From: chiaravi@silver.bacs.indiana.edu (Lucius Chiaraviglio)
Newsgroups: sci.environment,sci.bio,sci.chem
Subject: Can solubilized plastic subunits be metabolized?  (approx. reposting)
Keywords: plastic monomer units, solubilization
Message-ID: <24735@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu>
Date: 18 Aug 89 03:45:20 GMT
Reply-To: chiaravi@silver.bacs.indiana.edu (Lucius Chiaraviglio)
Organization: Department of Biology at Indiana University, Bloomington
Lines: 25

[I tried posting a message to this effect before, but it got nuked.]

	I was wondering if maybe plastics could be made biodegradable after
the fact by dissolving them in acetone or some other biodegradable solvent,
and then diluting the solution in minimal growth media for some microbe.  The
questions that this hinges on are

	1.	What makes plastics non-biodegradable -- is it inherent
		nonbiodegradability of the subunits, or is it the insoluble
		solid (and thus inaccessible) form of those subunits?

	2.	What are the subunits of various commonly-used plastics,
		and how would microorganisms handle these if they were
		presented in an accessible form?

	3.	What kinds of biodegradable solvents are available that
		can be used to dissolve commonly-used plastics?  I assume
		that acetone is biodegradable because some biological
		processes produce it (and thus presumably ones exist to
		metabolize it), but acetone doesn't dissolve all plastics.

|   Lucius Chiaraviglio    |    Internet:  chiaravi@silver.bacs.indiana.edu
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