Ruochen Wu, a chemical engineering postdoctoral researcher, is monitoring the reaction to break down PET into soluble products that can be consumed by a community of microorganisms. (Credit: mtu.edu)
Two scientists have created a “food generator” concept that turns non-eatrabaoile biomass and end-of-life plastics into edible food. Professor Ting Lu and professor Stephen Techtmann use engineered natural organisms to break down the plastics and non-edible plant biomass. The resulting foods “contain all the required nutrition, are nontoxic, provide health benefits and additionally allow for personalization needs.” According to an article on Prnewswire.com, the researchers plan to continue their research by enabling a fully biological solution for PET plastic conversion, augmenting the biosafety and health-promoting contents of food and further expanding the technology to additional plastics or other types of waste for food generation. The groundbreaking technique has the potential to provide a safe and sustainable food supply while decreasing the environmental harm caused by plastic waste and traditional farming practices.
