• Categories:Company news
• Author:
• Origin:
• Time of issue:2021-10-23 08:49
• Views:

(Summary description)Researchers explained on Tuesday that vanillin is a compound that imparts the flavor of vanilla to food and is the main component of vanilla beans. It is responsible for the unique taste and smell of vanilla. Therefore, the study quoted experts as saying that recent experiments to convert plastics into vanillin can promote a circular economy, aiming to eliminate waste, maintain the use of products and materials, and have a positive impact on synthetic biology. The researchers further added that the produced vanillin is suitable for human consumption, but more experimental tests are needed. "Vanillin is widely used in the food and cosmetic industries, as well as in the formulation of herbicides, defoamers and cleaning products. In 2018, the global demand for vanillin exceeded 37,000 tons," said a scientist at the University of Edinburgh. Therefore, according to the first author of the study, Joanna Sadler (Joanna Sadler), the use of biological systems to upgrade plastic waste into valuable industrial chemicals is exciting. Nevertheless, there is still uncertainty about whether vanillin extracted from plastic waste meets consumer regulatory standards. Scientists have discovered a new method to remove plastic waste, through a series of chemical reactions to convert post-consumer PET into vanillin or vanilla flavor. A group of scientists from the University of Edinburgh in the UK successfully modified E. coli in the laboratory to convert the molecule terephthalic acid from PET into a molecule known for giving vanilla its unique taste and smell. The researchers explained in the study published in "Green Chemistry" that plastic is a "rich and extremely useful material, which has a wide range of applications throughout society." Therefore, the team decided to try to convert plastic waste into a method with higher value and more industrial applicability.