Assessing labelled carbon assimilation from poly butylene adipate-co-terephthalate (PBAT) monomers during thermophilic anaerobic digestion

Jan Struckmann Poulsen; Alba Trueba-Santiso; Juan M Lema; Simon Gregersen Echers; Reinhard Wimmer; Jeppe Lund Nielsen

doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2023.129430

Assessing labelled carbon assimilation from poly butylene adipate-co-terephthalate (PBAT) monomers during thermophilic anaerobic digestion

Bioresour Technol. 2023 Oct:385:129430. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2023.129430. Epub 2023 Jul 1.

Authors

Jan Struckmann Poulsen¹, Alba Trueba-Santiso², Juan M Lema³, Simon Gregersen Echers¹, Reinhard Wimmer¹, Jeppe Lund Nielsen⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry and Bioscience, Aalborg University, Fredrik Bajers Vej 7H, 9220 Aalborg E, Denmark.
² Department of Chemistry and Bioscience, Aalborg University, Fredrik Bajers Vej 7H, 9220 Aalborg E, Denmark; CRETUS, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Santiago de Compostela, Campus Vida, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain.
³ CRETUS, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Santiago de Compostela, Campus Vida, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain.
⁴ Department of Chemistry and Bioscience, Aalborg University, Fredrik Bajers Vej 7H, 9220 Aalborg E, Denmark. Electronic address: jln@bio.aau.dk.

PMID: 37399952
DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2023.129430

Abstract

PBAT (poly butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) is a widely used biodegradable plastic, but the knowledge about its metabolization in anaerobic environments is very limited. In this study, the anaerobic digester sludge from a municipal wastewater treatment plant was used as inoculum to investigate the biodegradability of PBAT monomers in thermophilic conditions. The research employs a combination of ¹³C-labelled monomers and proteogenomics to track the labelled carbon and identify the microorganisms involved. A total of 122 labelled peptides of interest were identified for adipic acid (AA) and 1,4-butanedio (BD). Through the time-dependent isotopic enrichment and isotopic profile distributions, Bacteroides, Ichthyobacterium, and Methanosarcina were proven to be directly involved in the metabolization of at least one monomer. This study provides a first insight into the identity and genomic potential of microorganisms responsible for biodegradability of PBAT monomers during anaerobic digestion under thermophilic conditions.

Keywords: Anaerobic biodegradation; Isotope labelling; PBAT; Plastic; Proteogenomics.

MeSH terms

Adipates / chemistry
Anaerobiosis
Carbon*
Polyesters* / metabolism

Substances

Polyesters
Carbon
adipic acid
butylene
terephthalic acid
Adipates