Study on the isolation of marine bacterial strains capable of degrading polyvinyl chloride

Abstract

Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) is a widely used plastic due to its good mechanical properties and thermal resistance. However, despite of its advantages, the persistent nature of PVC makes it challenging to dispose when released into the environment, thereby causing harm to human health and the environment. Recent research has revealed that specialised marine microbes (such as bacteria, fungi, and actinomycetes) have the potential to biodegrade plastics and utilise many of them as the sole source of carbon. In this study, PVC degrading bacteria were enriched and isolated from plastic waste contaminated coastal areas in Vietnam. From 18 isolates of bacteria, the authors selected the VK3 strain capable of degrading PVC and used this material as the sole carbon source after 8 weeks of testing. The results of 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis showed that this bacterial strain has 99% similarity with Alcanivorax sp. The changes in
surface structure and functional groups of PVC was also demonstrated by Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). These results revealed promising evidences of PVC degradation by marine bacteria.