Scientists have engineered E. coli bacteria to convert plastic waste into vanillin, an in-demand compound used in vanilla flavoring and more
How it works: Vanillin and a molecule derived from PET — terephthalic acid (TA) — have very similar chemical structures, so, for their study, published in the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) journal Green Chemistry, the Edinburgh scientists genetically engineered E. coli bacteria to be able to make the changes needed to convert TA into vanillin.
All they had to do was mix together their engineered bacteria and TA and keep the temperature stable at about 98 degrees Fahrenheit. Within a day, the E. coli had converted 79% of the TA into vanillin.
Past studies had already shown how bacteria could be used to break PET down into TA and other components, so the researchers then demonstrated how they could use microbes to convert a plastic bottle into vanillin.
The next steps: The researchers say their vanillin would be safe for human consumption, but they still need to confirm that with tests. They're now focused on increasing the bacteria's conversion rate and scaling up the process to create more vanillin from more plastic waste.
"Using microbes to turn waste plastics, which are harmful to the environment, into an important commodity and platform molecule with broad applications in cosmetics and food is a beautiful demonstration of green chemistry," Ellis Crawford, publishing editor at the RSC, said.