ENRICHMENT OF MICROORGANISMS BY SUGAR CANE MOLASSES FOR POLYEHTYLENE DEGRADATION

Shalini R, Viji J, Subash N, Sasikumar C

Abstract: Polythene does not dilute with soil, it remains within the soil surface, thereby causing harm to the soil character. Use of products made from polythene can have cancerous effect on human body. It is designed to be inert and stable so it is no surprise that it is slow to decompose. To overcome this problem microorganisms are able to degrade polythene and were isolated from garbage soil and enriched its growth with carbon sources like sugar cane molasses and polythene films, after six months of the incubation period the films were collected from the medium and its significant change in the surface of polythene film was observed and measured by FTIR which showed the introduction of carbonyl groups after natural weathering which decreased after microbial treatment. The results confirmed that microorganisms have the ability to degrade polythene efficiently when its growth enriched with sugar cane molasses at high concentrations (above 2.5%).

Keywords: Polythene, Molasses, FTIR, Microorganisms

DOI: https://doi.org/10.15623/ijret.2014.0309020