In Vitro Bioproduction of Polyalkanoates from Polypropylene and Polyethylene
AssigneeKimberly-Clark Worldwide, Inc.
InventorStephen Quirk
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Abstract
An enzymatic process and system are disclosed for producing bioplastic polymers from a thermoplastic polymer-containing post-use product. The thermoplastic polymer-containing post-use product can be pyrolyzed to obtain a pool of depolymerized alkanes. The pool of alkanes can be contacted in vitro with an enzyme or a mixture of enzymes to produce a bioplastic polymer.
Claims35
An enzymatic process for producing bioplastic polymers from a petroleum based thermoplastic polymer-containing post-use product comprising:
- a) pyrolyzing the petroleum based thermoplastic polymer-containing post-use product;
- b) obtaining a pool of depolymerized alkanes from the pyrolyzed post-use product;
- c) contacting the pool of alkanes in vitro with an enzyme or a mixture of enzymes;
- and
- d) producing a bioplastic polymer.
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An organism-free process for producing bioplastic polymers from alkanes comprising:
- contacting one or more alkanes with a purified enzyme or a mixture of purified enzymes in an environment substantially absent any bacteria that secrete the same enzyme or the mixture of the same enzymes;
- and
- producing a linear chain bioplastic polymer.
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A process of producing a polyalkenoate in a multi-step enzymatic reaction comprising:
- contacting a pool of alkanes in vitro with an alkane monooxygenase to obtain an alcohol;
- contacting the alcohol with an alcohol dehydrogenase to obtain an aldehyde;
- contacting the aldehyde with an aldehyde dehydrogenase to obtain a long-chain fatty acid;
- contacting the long-chain fatty acid with a long chain fatty acid CoA ligase/synthetase to obtain a long-chain fatty acid acyl-CoA;
- contacting the long-chain fatty acid acyl-CoA with a long chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase, followed by a long-chain-enoyl-CoA hydratase, followed by a hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase to obtain a long-chain acetoacetyl-CaA;
- and
- contacting a long-chain acetoacetyl-CaA with a hydroxyacyl coenzyme-A dehydrogenase to obtain a hydroxyacyl-CoA for polymerization into a polyhydroxyalkanoate;
- or
- contacting a long-chain acetoacetyl-CaA with an acetyl-CoA C-acyltransferase to obtain acetyl-CoA and contacting the acetyl-CoA with an acetoacetyl-CoA synthase to obtain polyhydroxybutyrate.
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Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.