Biological Valorization of Poly(ethylene terephthalate) Monomers for Upcycling Waste PET

Hee Taek Kim; Jae Kyun Kim; Hyun Gil Cha; Myung Jong Kang; Hyun Sook Lee; Tae Uk Khang; Eun Ju Yun; Dae Hee Lee; Bong Keun Song; Si Jae Park; Jeong Chan Joo; Kyoung Heon Kim

doi:10.1021/acssuschemeng.9b03908

Biological Valorization of Poly(ethylene terephthalate) Monomers for Upcycling Waste PET

Hee Taek Kim, Jae Kyun Kim, Hyun Gil Cha, Myung Jong Kang, Hyun Sook Lee, Tae Uk Khang, Eun Ju Yun, Dae Hee Lee, Bong Keun Song, Si Jae Park, Jeong Chan Joo, Kyoung Heon Kim

Department of Biotechnology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

85 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET), composed of terephthalic acid (TPA) and ethylene glycol (EG), is the most commonly produced polyester. Unrecycled PET waste causes serious environmental problems. To increase the PET recycling rate, the upcycling of PET into products that are higher value than PET is desired. In this study, the feasibility of biological valorization of PET for its upcycling was experimentally evaluated. Among the two monomers obtained from the chemical hydrolysis of PET, TPA was biologically converted to five different aromatics and aromatic-derived compounds by using whole-cell catalysts comprising Escherichia coli engineered to express necessary metabolic enzymes for biosynthetic routes for converting TPA. These five higher-value products from TPA, gallic acid, pyrogallol, catechol, muconic acid, and vanillic acid were synthesized via protocatechuic acid as the key intermediate at relatively high molar conversion yields, 32.7-92.5%. The other monomer from PET, EG, was fermented to glycolic acid, a cosmetic ingredient. This is the first experimental validation of producing various higher-value chemicals from PET monomers.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	19396-19406
Number of pages	11
Journal	ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering
Volume	7
Issue number	24
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1021/acssuschemeng.9b03908
Publication status	Published - 2019 Dec 16

Keywords

Plastic recycling
Poly(ethylene terephthalate)
Terephthalic acid
Upcycling
Valorization

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Chemistry(all)
Environmental Chemistry
Chemical Engineering(all)
Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1021/acssuschemeng.9b03908

Cite this

@article{8ae2ca31b5b640b5a866310566a55666,

title = "Biological Valorization of Poly(ethylene terephthalate) Monomers for Upcycling Waste PET",

abstract = "Poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET), composed of terephthalic acid (TPA) and ethylene glycol (EG), is the most commonly produced polyester. Unrecycled PET waste causes serious environmental problems. To increase the PET recycling rate, the upcycling of PET into products that are higher value than PET is desired. In this study, the feasibility of biological valorization of PET for its upcycling was experimentally evaluated. Among the two monomers obtained from the chemical hydrolysis of PET, TPA was biologically converted to five different aromatics and aromatic-derived compounds by using whole-cell catalysts comprising Escherichia coli engineered to express necessary metabolic enzymes for biosynthetic routes for converting TPA. These five higher-value products from TPA, gallic acid, pyrogallol, catechol, muconic acid, and vanillic acid were synthesized via protocatechuic acid as the key intermediate at relatively high molar conversion yields, 32.7-92.5%. The other monomer from PET, EG, was fermented to glycolic acid, a cosmetic ingredient. This is the first experimental validation of producing various higher-value chemicals from PET monomers.",

keywords = "Plastic recycling, Poly(ethylene terephthalate), Terephthalic acid, Upcycling, Valorization",

author = "Kim, {Hee Taek} and Kim, {Jae Kyun} and Cha, {Hyun Gil} and Kang, {Myung Jong} and Lee, {Hyun Sook} and Khang, {Tae Uk} and Yun, {Eun Ju} and Lee, {Dae Hee} and Song, {Bong Keun} and Park, {Si Jae} and Joo, {Jeong Chan} and Kim, {Kyoung Heon}",

note = "Funding Information: These authors contributed equally to this work. Funding was received from the Midcareer Researcher Program (NRF-2017R1A2B2005628), the Lignin Biorefinery Program (NRF-2017M1A2A2087634), and the Bio & Medical Technology Development Program (NRF-2018M3A9H3020459), all from the National Research Foundation of Korea. The authors declare no competing financial interest. Funding Information: We thank Dr. Bong Hyun Sung for providing E. coli MG1655(DE3) and Dr. Su-Jin Kim for the enzyme modeling. Facility support from the Institute of Biomedical and Food Safety, Korea University, is acknowledged. D.-H.L. acknowledges the support from the KRIBB Research Initiative Program. Publisher Copyright: Copyright {\textcopyright} 2019 American Chemical Society.",

year = "2019",

month = dec,

day = "16",

doi = "10.1021/acssuschemeng.9b03908",

language = "English",

volume = "7",

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journal = "ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering",

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T1 - Biological Valorization of Poly(ethylene terephthalate) Monomers for Upcycling Waste PET

AU - Kim, Hee Taek

AU - Kim, Jae Kyun

AU - Cha, Hyun Gil

AU - Kang, Myung Jong

AU - Lee, Hyun Sook

AU - Khang, Tae Uk

AU - Yun, Eun Ju

AU - Lee, Dae Hee

AU - Song, Bong Keun

AU - Park, Si Jae

AU - Joo, Jeong Chan

AU - Kim, Kyoung Heon

N1 - Funding Information: These authors contributed equally to this work. Funding was received from the Midcareer Researcher Program (NRF-2017R1A2B2005628), the Lignin Biorefinery Program (NRF-2017M1A2A2087634), and the Bio & Medical Technology Development Program (NRF-2018M3A9H3020459), all from the National Research Foundation of Korea. The authors declare no competing financial interest. Funding Information: We thank Dr. Bong Hyun Sung for providing E. coli MG1655(DE3) and Dr. Su-Jin Kim for the enzyme modeling. Facility support from the Institute of Biomedical and Food Safety, Korea University, is acknowledged. D.-H.L. acknowledges the support from the KRIBB Research Initiative Program. Publisher Copyright: Copyright © 2019 American Chemical Society.

PY - 2019/12/16

Y1 - 2019/12/16

N2 - Poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET), composed of terephthalic acid (TPA) and ethylene glycol (EG), is the most commonly produced polyester. Unrecycled PET waste causes serious environmental problems. To increase the PET recycling rate, the upcycling of PET into products that are higher value than PET is desired. In this study, the feasibility of biological valorization of PET for its upcycling was experimentally evaluated. Among the two monomers obtained from the chemical hydrolysis of PET, TPA was biologically converted to five different aromatics and aromatic-derived compounds by using whole-cell catalysts comprising Escherichia coli engineered to express necessary metabolic enzymes for biosynthetic routes for converting TPA. These five higher-value products from TPA, gallic acid, pyrogallol, catechol, muconic acid, and vanillic acid were synthesized via protocatechuic acid as the key intermediate at relatively high molar conversion yields, 32.7-92.5%. The other monomer from PET, EG, was fermented to glycolic acid, a cosmetic ingredient. This is the first experimental validation of producing various higher-value chemicals from PET monomers.

AB - Poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET), composed of terephthalic acid (TPA) and ethylene glycol (EG), is the most commonly produced polyester. Unrecycled PET waste causes serious environmental problems. To increase the PET recycling rate, the upcycling of PET into products that are higher value than PET is desired. In this study, the feasibility of biological valorization of PET for its upcycling was experimentally evaluated. Among the two monomers obtained from the chemical hydrolysis of PET, TPA was biologically converted to five different aromatics and aromatic-derived compounds by using whole-cell catalysts comprising Escherichia coli engineered to express necessary metabolic enzymes for biosynthetic routes for converting TPA. These five higher-value products from TPA, gallic acid, pyrogallol, catechol, muconic acid, and vanillic acid were synthesized via protocatechuic acid as the key intermediate at relatively high molar conversion yields, 32.7-92.5%. The other monomer from PET, EG, was fermented to glycolic acid, a cosmetic ingredient. This is the first experimental validation of producing various higher-value chemicals from PET monomers.

KW - Plastic recycling

KW - Poly(ethylene terephthalate)

KW - Terephthalic acid

KW - Upcycling

KW - Valorization

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U2 - 10.1021/acssuschemeng.9b03908

DO - 10.1021/acssuschemeng.9b03908

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85075914316

SN - 2168-0485

VL - 7

SP - 19396

EP - 19406

JO - ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering

JF - ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering

IS - 24

ER -

Biological Valorization of Poly(ethylene terephthalate) Monomers for Upcycling Waste PET

Abstract

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

UN SDGs

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