报告题目:Recent Advances in Enzymatic Plastic Recycling and Upcycling
报 告 人:韦韧(德国格赖夫斯瓦尔德大学博士)
报告时间:2025年3月20日(星期四)上午10:00
报告地点:大学城校区B12一楼报告厅
主办单位:生物科学与工程学院
报告摘要:
Growing amounts of plastic waste and its harmful environmental impacts have generated increasing interest in sustainable plastic recycling techniques. Recent biotechnological approaches have emerged as a promising solution for the circular plastic economy, offering a sustainable and efficient alternative to conventional mechanical and chemical recycling methods.
Extensive research spanning over 20 years on microbial polyester hydrolases allowed large-scale bio-based recycling of the prevalent polyester polyethylene terephthalate (PET), commonly utilized in packaging and textiles, through monomer recovery, while significantly enhancing our comprehension of interfacial enzyme-catalyzed depolymerization. Consequently, the present and forthcoming trajectory of PET hydrolase research has evolved from traditional enzyme mining and engineering to encompass broader subtopics, such as material property concerns and the optimization and upscaling of pretreatment and bioreactor processes. Furthermore, the acquired knowledge has advanced the discovery and design of novel enzymes capable of depolymerizing other plastics with hydrolysable backbones, including polyurethanes (PUR) and polyamides (PA, nylon). For plastics comprising solely saturated carbon–carbon bonds in their backbones, such as polyolefins and polystyrene, a chemo-biotechnological process seems to be a feasible approach wherein engineered microorganisms can metabolize small-molecule products derived from (thermo)chemical polymer decomposition to generate value-added products, surpassing the efficacy of the single enzyme-catalyzed approach.
This lecture intends to present an overview of recent advancements in the dynamic research domain of enzymatic and biotechnological plastic recycling and upcycling. This presentation will discuss the challenges and opportunities associated with, e.g., understanding fundamental plastic depolymerization mechanisms and implementing large-scale industrial practices, using examples from our group's recent publications. The bio-based circular plastic economy is envisioned to serve as a long-term strategy for reducing plastic waste, lowering its environmental impact, and facilitating human society's green transition.
报告人简介:
韦韧博士,现任德国格赖夫斯瓦尔德大学(University of Greifswald)生物化学研究所课题组组长。韦博士曾在中山大学、德国海德堡大学、瑞士苏黎世大学就读,2007年在德国海德堡大学获得生物学硕士学位,随后在德国莱比锡大学攻读博士学位,并于2012年顺利获得博士学位。2012年至2019年期间,他在莱比锡大学从事博士后研究;自2019年起,他在格赖夫斯瓦尔德大学担任课题组长。
韦韧博士的研究领域主要聚焦于分离、表征和工程化改造具有合成塑料降解能力的多种酶,旨在构建可持续的生物基循环塑料经济,包括塑料废物的生物降解、再生及增值回收。他已在SCI期刊上发表80余篇论文,其中包括9篇ESI高度引用文章,总引用次数(Google Scholar)达8000次,H因子为42。此外,韦韧博士还担任多个生物工程、催化和高分子领域期刊的编委。他的代表性论文刊登于《Nature Catalysis》、《Nature Chemical Engineering》、《Nature Communications》、《Advanced Science》和《Angewandte Chemie International Edition》等重要期刊。
韦韧博士自2021年起被评为全球Top 2%科学家(由斯坦福大学与Elsevier发布),并于2022年荣获Research in Engineering期刊颁发的RINENG Young Investigator Award,同时被选为DECHEMA(德国化学工程与生物技术协会) Zukunftsforum Biotechnologie分会会士,成为引领德国青年生物技术科学家的杰出代表。