Microbiology Project

Proposal

Nabeel Mohammed and Harish Kumar

Department of Biotechnology
Indian Institute of Technology Madras
Table of Contents
 Principal Investigators and Co-Investigators

• Nabeel Mohammed ( BE12B017 )

• Harish Kumar ( BS12B042 )

Project Proposal 3
 Abstract of Proposal

• With the excessive use of plastics and increasing pressure being

placed on capacities available for plastic waste disposal, the need
for biodegradable plastics and biodegradation of plastic wastes has
assumed increasing importance in the last few years.

• Biodegradation is necessary for water-soluble or water-immiscible

polymers because they eventually enter streams which can neither
be recycled nor incinerated.

• It is important to consider the microbial degradation of natural and

synthetic polymers in order to understand what is necessary for
biodegradation and the mechanisms involved.

Project Proposal 4
 Abstract of Proposal

• This requires understanding of the interactions between materials

and microorganisms and the biochemical changes involved.

• Widespread studies on the biodegradation of plastics have been

carried out in order to overcome the environmental problems
associated with synthetic plastic waste.

• This proposal is to investigate, identify and mass produce certain

bacteria which have shown a remarkable ability to degrade plastic.

Project Proposal 5
 Introduction

• A plastic material is any of a wide range of synthetic or semi-

synthetic organic solids that are mouldable.

• Plastics are typically organic polymers of high molecular mass, but

they often contain other substances.

• They are usually synthetic, most commonly derived from

petrochemicals, but many are partially natural.

• With the excessive use of plastics and increasing pressure being

placed on capacities available for plastic waste disposal, the need
for biodegradable plastics and biodegradation of plastic wastes has
assumed increasing importance in the last few years.

Project Proposal 6
 Introduction
• Lack of degradability and the closing of landfill sites as well as
growing water and land pollution problems have led to concern
about plastics.

• Awareness of the waste problem and its impact on the environment

has awakened new interest in the area of degradable polymers.

• Biodegradation is necessary for water-soluble or water-immiscible

polymers because they eventually enter streams which can neither
be recycled nor incinerated.

Project Proposal 7
 Aims and Objectives of Study

• To consider the microbial degradation of natural and synthetic

polymers in order to understand what is necessary for
biodegradation of plastics and the mechanisms involved.

• To identify pure cultures or cultures of bacteria in a medium working

in tandem capable of degrading plastics and other polymers at
hyperaccelerated rates.

• Once a culture is identified, research and experiments must be

performed to improve the rate of degradation of the plastics.

Project Proposal 8
 Aims and Objectives of Study

• Then, a suitable cost-effective means of manufacturing the culture in

large amounts must be devised.
• After that, processes must be devised to ensure that useful by-
products like PHA are isolated so that they can be used to subsidize
the cost of degradation.

Project Proposal 9
 Methodology / Approach
• Widespread studies on the biodegradation of plastics
have been carried out in order to overcome the
environmental problems associated with synthetic plastic
waste.

• Heating PET anaerobically yields terephthalic acid and a

small amount of oil and gas.

• Several bacteria thrive in terephthalic acid.

• Thus, a suitable bacteria which decomposes terephthalic

acid into harmless byproducts could be discovered.
Project Proposal 10
 Methodology / Approach

• A suitable medium consisting of terephthalic acid conc. below 500

mg/L is fed into a digester and a suitable culture is inoculated while
another digester is kept as control.

• The ratio of COD:N:P is kept 200:5:1.

• The overnight gas production is measured in both digesters and

TPA is tested by UV photometer at 240nm after chromatographic
separation.

• Once an efficient culture is obtained, standard mutagenesis

procedures are followed to obtain a faster and more efficient culture
as opposed wild strain.

Project Proposal 11
 Project Duration and Time Frame
Data Gathering Data Analysis Improvement Implementation

2m 1m 18m 15m
Input

• Recorded results • Bacteria which are • Bacteria cultures and

• Bacteria Culture
of testing capable of degrading catalysts capable of
templates
plastics or terephthalic degrading Plastics or TPA
acid. efficiently.
Activities

• Searching for catalysts • The Genomes for the bacteria

• Testing cultures • Analysis of: of the degradation are sequenced and a suitable
on plastic agar. •Degradation process. method of mass producing the
• Testing cultures •Byproducts • Improving efficiency bacteria is identified.
on TPA agar. •Bacteria Used through cross-breeding • Industrial methods are
and mutagenesis. devised to improve cost
efficiency of the process.

• Results of
• Detailed analysis and knowledge • Bacteria cultures and • A cost-effective solution to
Testing were
Output

of all Bacteria which degrade catalysts capable of plastic degradation has been
recorded.
plastics as well as their carbon degrading plastics/TPA devised.
• Project Plan
source. efficiently obtained. • Project Completion Report is
submission to
• Project Report submission to • Progress Reports are submitted.
committee.
committee. submitted monthly to
committee.

Project Proposal 12
 Budget

• Non-recurring Expenditures:- 30 lakhs

– Digesters
– Photometers
– Chromatographic Seperator
• Recurring Expenditures:- 40 lakhs.
– Staff
– TPA
– Glucose
– Base Cultures
• Contingency for Unexpected Events:- 30 lakhs.
• Total Budget:- 1 crore

Project Proposal 13
 Status of Research at International Level

• Kevin O'Connor, University College Dublin, Ireland:-

– Recycling process simply converts the low value PET bottles into
more PET.
– They wanted to see if they could turn the plastic into something
of higher value in an environmentally friendly way.
– They knew that some bacteria can grow and thrive on TA, and
that other bacteria produce a high-value biodegradable plastic
PHA when stressed.
– His team studied cultures from around the world known to grow
on TA, but none produced PHA. So they decided to look for
undiscovered strains, in environments that naturally contain TA.

Project Proposal 14
 Status of Research at International Level

– Analysing soil bacteria from a PET bottle processing plant

yielded 32 colonies that could survive in the lab using TA as their
only energy source.
– On screening each culture for PHA, three cultures, all similar to
known strains of Pseudomonas accumulated detectable
quantities of the valuable plastic.
• Daniel Burd, Grade 11, Waterloo Collegiate Institute,
Ottawa, Canada:-
– Daniel knew that plastic, one of the most indestructible of
manufactured materials, does in fact eventually decompose.
This means there must be microorganisms out there to do the
decomposing.

Project Proposal 15
 Status of Research at International Level

– He wondered if these microbes could be bred to do the job

faster.
– He put this to the test with a very simple and clever process of
immersing ground plastic in a yeast solution that encourages
microbial growth, and then isolating the most productive
organisms.
– The preliminary results were encouraging, so he kept at it,
selecting out the most effective strains and interbreeding them.
– After several weeks of tweaking and optimizing temperatures
Burd was achieved a 43 percent degradation of plastic in six
weeks, an almost inconceivable accomplishment.

Project Proposal 16
 Deliverables and Beneficiaries of Project

• Deliverables:-
– Project Design Document
– Project Plan
– Monthly Progress Reports
– Project Completion Report
• Beneficiaries:-
– Project Committee
– Chennai Corporation
– Society

Project Proposal 17
 Publications relevant to Proposal

1. Burd Report by Daniel Burd

2. The conversion of waste PET plastic to a high value added
biodegradable plastic by Dr. Kevin O’ Connor, Shane T. Kenny and
Jasmina Nikodinovic Runic.
3. Effect of Phanerochaete chrysosporium, Pseudomonas putida
and Sphingomonas macrogoltabidus on the Degradation of HDPE
Plastic with Chemical, UV, and Thermal Pre-treatments by Cara
Broshkevitch, Anne Richards, and Jacqueline Curley.
4. Biological degradation of plastics: A comprehensive review by
Aamer Ali Shah, Fariha Hasan, Abdul Hameed and Safia Ahmed.
5. Mechanistic implications of plastic degradation by Baljit Singh and
Nisha Sharma.
 All relevant publications are attached to document.

Project Proposal 18
 Thank You
Nabeel Mohammed and Harish Kumar
BE12B017 and BS12B042
Students of Biological Engineering, Second Year
nabeelfrom95@gmail.com

Project Proposal 19