膨胀聚苯乙烯不会被粉虫化学降解

Zahra Mohammadizadeh Tahroudi, Gavin Flematti, Jitendra Joshi, Georg Fritz and Rob Atkin
{"title":"膨胀聚苯乙烯不会被粉虫化学降解","authors":"Zahra Mohammadizadeh Tahroudi, Gavin Flematti, Jitendra Joshi, Georg Fritz and Rob Atkin","doi":"10.1039/D4SU00618F","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p >Expanded polystyrene (EPS) is a widely used plastic material that poses significant environmental challenges due to its resistance to degradation. While mealworms have been reported to degrade EPS, several critical questions remain unanswered: (1) Do mealworms actually chemically degrade the polystyrene backbone in EPS? (2) Can mealworms effectively derive nutrition from EPS consumption? and (3) What mechanisms, if any, enable EPS degradation by mealworms? This study addresses these questions by feeding mealworms two types of EPS diets: pure EPS without additives and commercial EPS containing additives. Mealworms were individually housed (to prevent cannibalism) and categorized into age-specific groups, and their growth and survival were monitored on diets of pure EPS, commercial EPS, or under starvation conditions. Our results demonstrated that, compared to starvation, both pure and commercial EPS diets failed to sustain mealworm growth, and survival rates decreased, indicating that EPS consumption is toxic to mealworms. Gel permeation chromatography and attenuated total reflectance-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analyses of the frass revealed partial degradation of commercial EPS, characterized by a reduction in higher molecular weight fractions and increased carbonyl group formation. Additives likely caused EPS degradation. In contrast, pure EPS was essentially unaffected by passage through the mealworm digestive tract, providing clear chemical evidence that neither mealworms nor their gut microbiota possess enzymes capable of breaking down EPS for energy. These findings reveal that previous studies overstated the ability of mealworms to digest and derive energy from EPS, while providing new insights into the chemical processes involved in limited EPS degradation. Our results emphasize the need for further research into alternative organisms, pretreatment methods, and integrated waste management strategies that can more effectively address the challenge of EPS degradation.</p>","PeriodicalId":74745,"journal":{"name":"RSC sustainability","volume":" 1","pages":" 383-394"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2024-11-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlepdf/2025/su/d4su00618f?page=search","citationCount":"0","resultStr":"{\"title\":\"Expanded polystyrene is not chemically degraded by mealworms†\",\"authors\":\"Zahra Mohammadizadeh Tahroudi, Gavin Flematti, Jitendra Joshi, Georg Fritz and Rob Atkin\",\"doi\":\"10.1039/D4SU00618F\",\"DOIUrl\":null,\"url\":null,\"abstract\":\"<p >Expanded polystyrene (EPS) is a widely used plastic material that poses significant environmental challenges due to its resistance to degradation. While mealworms have been reported to degrade EPS, several critical questions remain unanswered: (1) Do mealworms actually chemically degrade the polystyrene backbone in EPS? (2) Can mealworms effectively derive nutrition from EPS consumption? and (3) What mechanisms, if any, enable EPS degradation by mealworms? This study addresses these questions by feeding mealworms two types of EPS diets: pure EPS without additives and commercial EPS containing additives. Mealworms were individually housed (to prevent cannibalism) and categorized into age-specific groups, and their growth and survival were monitored on diets of pure EPS, commercial EPS, or under starvation conditions. Our results demonstrated that, compared to starvation, both pure and commercial EPS diets failed to sustain mealworm growth, and survival rates decreased, indicating that EPS consumption is toxic to mealworms. Gel permeation chromatography and attenuated total reflectance-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analyses of the frass revealed partial degradation of commercial EPS, characterized by a reduction in higher molecular weight fractions and increased carbonyl group formation. Additives likely caused EPS degradation. In contrast, pure EPS was essentially unaffected by passage through the mealworm digestive tract, providing clear chemical evidence that neither mealworms nor their gut microbiota possess enzymes capable of breaking down EPS for energy. These findings reveal that previous studies overstated the ability of mealworms to digest and derive energy from EPS, while providing new insights into the chemical processes involved in limited EPS degradation. Our results emphasize the need for further research into alternative organisms, pretreatment methods, and integrated waste management strategies that can more effectively address the challenge of EPS degradation.</p>\",\"PeriodicalId\":74745,\"journal\":{\"name\":\"RSC sustainability\",\"volume\":\" 1\",\"pages\":\" 383-394\"},\"PeriodicalIF\":0.0000,\"publicationDate\":\"2024-11-19\",\"publicationTypes\":\"Journal Article\",\"fieldsOfStudy\":null,\"isOpenAccess\":false,\"openAccessPdf\":\"https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlepdf/2025/su/d4su00618f?page=search\",\"citationCount\":\"0\",\"resultStr\":null,\"platform\":\"Semanticscholar\",\"paperid\":null,\"PeriodicalName\":\"RSC sustainability\",\"FirstCategoryId\":\"1085\",\"ListUrlMain\":\"https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2025/su/d4su00618f\",\"RegionNum\":0,\"RegionCategory\":null,\"ArticlePicture\":[],\"TitleCN\":null,\"AbstractTextCN\":null,\"PMCID\":null,\"EPubDate\":\"\",\"PubModel\":\"\",\"JCR\":\"\",\"JCRName\":\"\",\"Score\":null,\"Total\":0}","platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"RSC sustainability","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2025/su/d4su00618f","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0

摘要

膨胀聚苯乙烯(EPS)是一种广泛使用的塑料材料,由于其抗降解性,对环境构成了重大挑战。虽然有报道称粉虫能降解EPS,但仍有几个关键问题没有得到解答:(1)粉虫真的能化学降解EPS中的聚苯乙烯主链吗?(2)粉虫能否有效地从EPS消费中获取营养?(3)粉虫降解EPS的机制(如果有的话)是什么?本研究通过饲喂粉虫两种不同类型的EPS饲料:不添加添加剂的纯EPS和含添加剂的商业EPS来解决这些问题。将粉虫单独饲养(以防止同类相食),并按年龄分组,分别在纯EPS、商业EPS和饥饿条件下监测其生长和存活情况。我们的研究结果表明,与饥饿相比,纯EPS和商业EPS饲料都不能维持粉虫的生长,存活率下降,表明食用EPS对粉虫有毒。凝胶渗透色谱和衰减全反射-傅里叶变换红外光谱分析显示,商业EPS部分降解,其特征是高分子量组分减少,羰基形成增加。添加剂可能导致EPS降解。相比之下,纯EPS基本上不受通过粉虫消化道的影响,这提供了明确的化学证据,表明粉虫及其肠道微生物群都不具备能够分解EPS以获取能量的酶。这些发现表明,以前的研究夸大了粉虫消化和从EPS中获取能量的能力,同时为有限EPS降解所涉及的化学过程提供了新的见解。我们的研究结果强调需要进一步研究替代生物,预处理方法和综合废物管理策略,以更有效地解决EPS降解的挑战。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。

Expanded polystyrene is not chemically degraded by mealworms†

Expanded polystyrene is not chemically degraded by mealworms†

Expanded polystyrene (EPS) is a widely used plastic material that poses significant environmental challenges due to its resistance to degradation. While mealworms have been reported to degrade EPS, several critical questions remain unanswered: (1) Do mealworms actually chemically degrade the polystyrene backbone in EPS? (2) Can mealworms effectively derive nutrition from EPS consumption? and (3) What mechanisms, if any, enable EPS degradation by mealworms? This study addresses these questions by feeding mealworms two types of EPS diets: pure EPS without additives and commercial EPS containing additives. Mealworms were individually housed (to prevent cannibalism) and categorized into age-specific groups, and their growth and survival were monitored on diets of pure EPS, commercial EPS, or under starvation conditions. Our results demonstrated that, compared to starvation, both pure and commercial EPS diets failed to sustain mealworm growth, and survival rates decreased, indicating that EPS consumption is toxic to mealworms. Gel permeation chromatography and attenuated total reflectance-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analyses of the frass revealed partial degradation of commercial EPS, characterized by a reduction in higher molecular weight fractions and increased carbonyl group formation. Additives likely caused EPS degradation. In contrast, pure EPS was essentially unaffected by passage through the mealworm digestive tract, providing clear chemical evidence that neither mealworms nor their gut microbiota possess enzymes capable of breaking down EPS for energy. These findings reveal that previous studies overstated the ability of mealworms to digest and derive energy from EPS, while providing new insights into the chemical processes involved in limited EPS degradation. Our results emphasize the need for further research into alternative organisms, pretreatment methods, and integrated waste management strategies that can more effectively address the challenge of EPS degradation.

求助全文
通过发布文献求助,成功后即可免费获取论文全文。 去求助
来源期刊
CiteScore
0.60
自引率
0.00%
发文量
0
×
引用
GB/T 7714-2015
复制
MLA
复制
APA
复制
导出至
BibTeX EndNote RefMan NoteFirst NoteExpress
×
提示
您的信息不完整,为了账户安全,请先补充。
现在去补充
×
提示
您因"违规操作"
具体请查看互助需知
我知道了
×
提示
确定
请完成安全验证×
copy
已复制链接
快去分享给好友吧!
我知道了
右上角分享
点击右上角分享
0
联系我们:info@booksci.cn Book学术提供免费学术资源搜索服务,方便国内外学者检索中英文文献。致力于提供最便捷和优质的服务体验。 Copyright © 2023 布克学术 All rights reserved.
京ICP备2023020795号-1
ghs 京公网安备 11010802042870号
Book学术文献互助
Book学术文献互助群
群 号:481959085
Book学术官方微信