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I wonder what waste products the enzyme produces? Apologies if this is a nonsensical question, I don't know much about biology.
by jdauriemma 5y ago
I wonder what waste products the enzyme produces? Apologies if this is a nonsensical question, I don't know much about biology.
- dnautics 5y agodepends, but it's probably ultimately broken down into CO2. Halogens become salt, due to dehalogenase. edit: dehalogenase, not halogenase
- danuker 5y ago> broken down into CO2 Might as well burn them in district heaters then? Provided you catalyze/capture the non-CO2 compounds as well as possible.
- dnautics 5y agoburning is less precise and will have indeterminate byproducts - soot - (dioxins e.g.), because it's a fast process.
- Zamicol 5y agoPlasma converting/gasification doesn't have the "fast process" problem. (Of course it has its own challenges to solve.)
- Cthulhu_ 5y agoI'm a layperson, but, 'clean' CO2 sounds preferable over those byproducts. At least CO2 is captured and sequestered by plants.
- z3t4 5y agoYou can burn co2 also.
- SapporoChris 5y agoSorry, no. Carbon dioxide will not react further with oxygen no matter how hot you get it. In other words, it will not burn.
- z3t4 5y agosorry, I was confused by the dirty byproduct carbon monoxide (CO), which is a dirty gas you get from burning plastics, which can be burned into carbon dioxide (CO2) - which is considered harmless except that it's a greenhouse gas.
- SapporoChris 5y agoThank you for explaining!
- danuker 5y agoDioxins are intermediaries in the process of current wood and coal-burning plants. But they eventually get burned as well. > The gas-phase dioxins can be substantially destroyed using catalysts, some of which can be present as part of the fabric filter bag structure. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incineration#Dioxin_cracking_in_practice https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incineration#Dioxin_cracking_i...
- Tuna-Fish 5y agoProper trash incineration will not produce complex molecules. It does require an actual plant designed for that instead of a pit in the ground, though.
- jboy55 5y agoDo the actual microbes emit CO2 or is some of that carbon used in replication? As awesome as it sounds that plastic will be biodegradable, I'm sure there's a lot of plastics are used in critical places with the assumption they won't degrade in nature. If microbes/enzymes do release a lot of CO2 in this process, are we destroying the atmosphere for the sake of the landfill? Does anyone know how many tons of CO2 are trapped in plastics?
- donkarma 5y agoFrom a quick view the bacteria eats all the products of the enzyme