[pneumic]

Yeah, it's not bad news at all but it appears to be one of many that still require considerable heat, industrial infra, etc.

Has anyone attempted to put these enzymes to the test in at some scale in an industrial setting, I wonder?

[eindiran]

I was recently at a party and spent some time talking with someone who has a stealth startup working on this exact problem. He said that they aren't the first, but getting the scale right (in an industrial setting) and finances right enough that someone is willing to spend the money to set it up is far harder than just finding an enzyme that can break down PET / similar polymers.

[gilleain]

No idea. From skimming some university press releases, I see a lot of "potential for!" and similar wording.

This https://news.utexas.edu/2022/04/27/plastic-eating-enzyme-cou... has "Up next, the team plans to work on scaling up enzyme production to prepare for industrial and environmental application. " which is more promising.

As far as I understand, yes it is a very different challenge to make a bioreactor for actually using some random new enzyme than the (also hard) problem of getting the structure in the first place. How to immobilize it on some surface, how to pre-process the material to pass it through the reactor (?) I guess ...

[justaskme]

Feels like it's always "potential for"... sigh

[hinkley]

I mean my processor hits 70° and has for a decade or more, and my car engine thinks 87° is the happy temperature.

70° is maybe a little out of the reach of a home system but nothing for a municipal system. Right?

[kardos]

A hot water tank is not far from 70C

[hanniabu]

Should work well in landfills since there's heat buildup

[jamesjuicy55]

https://www.purecycle.com/who-we-are. ?