Biodegradation of plastic by some fungi as influenced by Physical factors

Abstract

Polyethylene and plastic are resistant to degradation and decay. Their accumulation in the environment produces environmental problems. So, the purpose of this research is to evaluate the ability of several fungal species to destroy plastic materials, choose the most active strain, and investigate some physical parameters influencing ligninolytic enzyme productivity. Twenty-six fungal isolates were recovered from benzene station soils, the Petroleum refinery area, and the Botany Department, Faculty of Science, Fayoum University. All of the tested fungi showed lignin peroxidase activity in both soil and liquid cultures. Aspergillus niger and Penicillium chrysogenum were more capable of producing ligninolytic enzymes. Hence, they were chosen for the following studies. The two fungi under investigation assessed several parameters to maximize the production of lignin peroxidase enzymes, such as Temperature, pH, and moisture. The temperature range from 15 °C to 45 °C was tried and the optimum temperature of the two fungi under study were 40 °C for Penicillium chrysogenum and 35 °C for A.niger. Maximum enzyme activity was reached at pH 5 and 6 for Penicillium chrysogenum and Aspergillus niger , respectively. From one to five days, The amount of enzyme production is greatly increased as a result of the constant rise in the moisture content of plastic materials, it reached 9.9 units ∕ml and 11.0 units ∕ml for P.chrysogenum and A.niger, respectively after 5 days of incubation of plastic materials in moisture content.