The BOTTLETM Upcycling Task focuses on converting intermediates from today’s plastics to high-value materials using biological and chemo-catalytic conversion. This task bridges the Deconstruction and Redesign Tasks.
Our primary focus areas include the following; please contact us for more information about other activities in this task.
Bioconversion of Deconstruction Intermediates
We are leveraging our core capabilities in synthetic biology and metabolic engineering to biologically convert deconstruction products from today’s plastics into high-value monomers for recyclable-by-design and upcycled polymers. We employ industrially relevant microbes such as Pseudomonas putida KT2440 for these efforts.
Identification of New Metabolic Pathways for Plastics Upcycling
We are employing environmental microbiology, genomics, and systems biology tools to discover novel metabolic pathways for consumption of xenobiotic compounds. This work integrates closely with the Deconstruction and Characterization Tasks, and it allows us to identify new “genetic parts” for engineering microbial conversion of plastic deconstruction products into upcycled monomers.
Chemo-Catalytic Upcycling
We employ the same slate of chemical catalysis tools in the Deconstruction Task to design new catalysts and new pathways to convert processable intermediates from single and mixed plastics deconstruction into upcycled and recyclable-by-design materials. We are also combining bio-based intermediates derived from plant biomass or other biogenic waste substrates with intermediates from today’s plastics to enable polymer upcycling.
Recent Publications
Combining Reclaimed PET with Bio-based Monomers Enables Plastics Upcycling
Learn how to join the BOTTLE consortium and contact us to discover how best to work with us.
