DOI: https://doi.org/10.55373/mjchem.v27i3.272

Keywords: Polyethylene terephthalate; Fusarium oxysporum; solid state fermentation; xylanase; plastic waste.

Abstract

Plastic pollution, especially from polyethylene terephthalate (PET), poses a serious environmental threat due to its extensive use and persistence in ecosystems. This research explores the enhancement of PET degradation using the fungus Fusarium oxysporum through solid-state fermentation (SSF). F. oxysporum was chosen for its known capacity to produce enzymes that can be a marker of complex polymer degradation. The SSF process was refined by adjusting key variables such as moisture content, fermentation weeks, and inoculum size. The effectiveness of degradation was tracked by assessing weight loss and the production of degradation by-products as enzymes. The results indicated that over four weeks, the weight loss of PET increased with higher volumes of F. oxysporum inoculum, reaching a peak weight loss of around 2.5% with 15 mL inoculum. Additionally, xylanase activity, a marker of enzymatic degradation, increased over time, with absorbance values nearing 0.45 U/mL at four weeks for both 10 and 15 mL inoculum volumes. These outcomes demonstrate that F. oxysporum, under optimized conditions, can substantially improve PET degradation, suggesting its potential in biodegradation efforts to combat plastic pollution. This study lays the groundwork for developing sustainable solutions to the growing issue of plastic waste in the environment.