3MT975: Biodegradation Of Plastics By Thermophilic Strain Isolated From Hot Spring In Ranau, Sabah

Lee Yi Mei Universiti Malaysia Sabah

VIC24 | Virtual 3MT

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Massive accumulation of the plastics in the environment lead to the occurrence of plastic pollution. Microbial degradation is a method to remediate the environment in a sustainable way. Utilisation of the thermophilic bacteria allow the combination of thermal and biological treatment in degrading the plastics. This project is to study the biodegradation potential on different types of plastics by the isolated thermophilic strain from hot spring in Ranau, Sabah. The plastics polymer that utilized in the biodegradation process including PVC, PET, LDPE, and PP. A total of five thermophilic strains is isolated from the hot spring and Bacillus cereus was selected for the biodegradation study. Bacillus cereus is a rod and motile gram-positive bacteria. The biodegradation study was conducted in the incubator at 40 °C for 14 days. The microbial growth was determined every two days by measuring the medium optical density. The optical density indicated that there is positive microbial growth throughout the biodegradation process. The percentage weight loss for the plastic polymers were PVC (4.30 ± 2.16%), PET (5.74 ± 2.16%), LDPE (24.7 ± 12.12%), and PP (17.43 ± 8.31%) after 14 days of incubation. After that, the plastic films were observed under the Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) for further confirmation. Peak spectrum formation and shifting were displayed under FTIR analysis, while SEM analysis revealed that there were morphological changes on the surface of the plastic. Hence, this project suggests that Bacillus cereus with the ability to degrade PET, PVC, LDPE, and PP at thermophilic temperature.