Di Liberto, E.A.; Battaglia, G.; Pellerito, R.; Curcuruto, G.; Dintcheva, N.T. Biodegradation of Polystyrene by Plastic-Eating Tenebrionidae Larvae. Preprints2024, 2024040341. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202404.0341.v1
APA Style
Di Liberto, E.A., Battaglia, G., Pellerito, R., Curcuruto, G., & Dintcheva, N.T. (2024). Biodegradation of Polystyrene by Plastic-Eating Tenebrionidae Larvae. Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202404.0341.v1
Chicago/Turabian Style
Di Liberto, E.A., Giusy Curcuruto and Nadka Tz. Dintcheva. 2024 "Biodegradation of Polystyrene by Plastic-Eating Tenebrionidae Larvae" Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202404.0341.v1
Abstract
Polystyrene (PS) is an extremely stable polymer with relatively high molecular weight and a strong hydrophobic character that makes it highly resistant to biodegradation. In this study, PS was subjected to biodegradation tests by Tenebrio Molitor (T. Molitor) and Zophobas Morio (Z. Morio) larvae. Specifically, six different experimental diets were compared: (i) T. Molitor fed with bran; (ii) T. Molitor fed only PS; (iii) T. Molitor fed only PS treated with H2O2; (iv) Z. Morio fed with bran; (v) Z. Morio fed only PS and (vi) Z. Morio fed only PS treated with H2O2. Therefore, the mass change of the larvae and the survival rate were measured periodically, while the frass collected after 15 and 30 days were analyzed by different analyses, such as spectroscopy (FTIR), spectrometry (molecular weight and polydispersity), and microscopy (scanning electron microscopy observations). The obtained results suggest that in the case of T. Molitor larvae, larvae feeding on bran showed the highest survival rate of ~94 % at 30 days, while in the case of the Z. Morio larvae, the highest survival rate was exhibited by larvae eating PS-H2O2. Although not strongly pronounced, the Mw and Mn of PS frass of both T. Molitor and Z. Morio larvae decreased over 30 days, suggesting the Ps biodegradation. Finally, the morphological analysis shows that PS samples isolated from the frass of T. Molitor and Z. Morio larvae showed completely different, rough and irregularly carved surface structures, in comparison to PS before biodegradation.
Chemistry and Materials Science, Polymers and Plastics
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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