Good day! I am currently writing a paper on the polystyrene degradation abilities of Exiguobacterium present in the larval form of Tenebrio molitor and I was wondering how come abiotic factors like temperature have not been used in order to maximize the yield of degradation. Ideonella sakaiensis, another bacterial strain discovered with plastic degradation abilities (specifically PET bottles), has two enzymes that degrade it. How is it that introducing the bacterial strain to its optimal temperature not yet used as an efficient way for degrading plastic?
How about soils or places that do not have toxic volatiles present in them? For example, a recycling facility wherein some plastic are not recycled but can be degraded by the bacterial strains mentioned earlier.
The main problem is cost and scale. In most situations like recycling factories the profit margins are so slim that the added energy costs to change the temperature would be impractical not to mention the cost of designing new facilities that could be temperature controlled. Secondly, the optimal temperature might be determinable if you had a closed system with a know degrading bacterium, but in most cases consortia of unidentified bacteria are used and the optimal temperatures probably not determined.
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