KAIST Publishes Paper in Nature on Microbial Plastic 'Production to Biodegradation'

A paper by a KAIST research team on plastic production and biodegradation using microorganisms has been published in the online edition of Nature Microbiology.

According to KAIST on the 11th, currently, 460 million tons of plastic are produced annually. It is expected to increase further, with annual production projected to reach 1.23 billion tons by 2060. This projection is based on the assumption that the utilization and use of plastics will continue to grow.

However, on the downside, more than 6.3 billion tons of plastic waste have been generated since 1950, of which over 140 million tons are estimated to have accumulated in aquatic environments. Recently, the severity of microplastic pollution has emerged as a serious issue, worsening marine ecosystems, human health, and global warming problems. There is growing concern that the convenience of plastic use could ultimately become a disaster for humanity.

International efforts to solve the plastic problem have also become visible. A representative example is the agreement to establish a legal treaty aimed at ending plastic pollution, with participation from 175 countries by next year, led by the United Nations. In particular, various technologies are being developed recently for sustainable plastic production and processing. Among these, biotechnology using microorganisms is considered the most notable technology.

Recently, a paper titled “Sustainable Production and Degradation of Plastics Using Microorganisms” published by the research team led by Distinguished Professor Lee Sang-Yeop of the Department of Bio and Chemical Engineering at KAIST comprehensively covers technologies that produce plastics using microorganisms and environmentally friendly methods to treat plastic waste.

Microorganisms naturally have the ability to produce or degrade specific compounds. This ability is being maximized through biotechnologies such as metabolic engineering and enzyme engineering to develop technologies that produce plastics from renewable biomass resources instead of fossil fuels and degrade plastic waste. These developments are currently active.

The research team compiled the latest microorganism-based technologies related to sustainable plastic production and degradation, analyzed their practical impact on solving plastic problems, and based on this, outlined the limitations, prospects, and research directions of the technologies to draw a blueprint for achieving a circular plastic economy. They also introduced technologies that degrade plastics using microorganisms and their enzymes, as well as upcycling technologies that convert degraded products into other useful compounds, highlighting the competitiveness and potential of plastic production and biodegradation technologies using microorganisms.

The paper was published in the online edition of Nature Microbiology on the 30th of last month.

Professor Lee said, “It is important to use plastics sustainably and responsibly to protect the environment and simultaneously achieve economic and social development through a new plastic industry. Considering this, the future role of microbial metabolic engineering technology is highly anticipated.”

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