Polymer recycling has been one of the most important trend in the petrochemical area. Among different technologies, biotechnological (enzymatic and/or microbial) degradation of polymers for the recovery of monomers and oligomers is environmentally-friendly and meet some green chemistry principles. In this work, conditions for the biotechnological degradation of some industrially-relevant polymers (e.g. poly(ethylene terephthalate) and polyethylene) were revised, and the main biocatalysts were identified. In most cases, biodegradation mechanisms are still unclear, thus being necessary more studies to unravel these promising bioprocesses. Polymer biodegradation studies also present considerable importance for other fields, including biomedical and agricultural.

Enzymes are biological catalysts that offer great potential for use in the synthesis and modification of polymers, being more specific and greener than chemical catalysts. In this work, enzymes from the classes of hydrolases (lipase, cutinase and protease) and of oxidoreductases (horseradish peroxidase, manganese peroxidase and laccase) were identified as the main biocatalysts responsible for the synthesis of polymers. Biocatalysis can potentially be part of the life cycle of several polymers, including polyesters, polyurethanes, polycarbonates, polyamides, functionalized polysaccharides and polystyrene, allowing the synthesis of specialty macromolecules for fine applications and with higher added-value than commodity polymers.

Background: The production of ethanol by a Consolidated Bioprocessing (CBP) strategy, which simultaneously combines cellulase production, lignocellulosic biomass hydrolysis and fermentation of released sugars to ethanol in one bioreactor, is a promising technology for cost reduction in the biological processing of biomass, specially using agroindustrial residues. Clostridium thermocellum is an anaerobic, thermophilic, strictly fermentative gram positive bacterium that meets all the requirements for CBP. Results: Ethanol concentration obtained in the non-stirred fermentation process in flasks with raw bagasse was two times greater than that in the stirred system. The results observed using a pretreated sugarcane bagasse in non-stirred flasks regarding ethanol concentration, were slightly lower than with raw bagasse. The sparging of exogenous H2 into the medium at atmospheric pressure inside the bioreactor showed to be unfavourable to achieve higher ethanol yields. Conclusions: The strain investigated is a promising candidate for thermophilic fermentative ethanol production from dried ground raw sugarcane bagasse in a CBP strategy, although the alcohol concentrations need to be further improved. In future studies, it is recommended to investigate different modes of operation of the fermentation process, including pressurized conditions, as well as to use wet raw sugarcane bagasse aiming to achieve additional improvement in ethanol production and to reduce the costs of the process.

Cellulases have been intensively studied in the past few years, due to the interests in biofuels production from lignocellulosic materials, since they permit maintaining mild conditions during the conversion process. These enzymes can be produced by a broad variety of naturally occurring microorganisms, such as from genera Aspergillus, Trichoderma, Penicillium and Humicola. Targeting the increasing of expression levels, molecular biology tools have been used for heterologous genes insertion in host cells, e. g., Pichia pastoris and Escherichia coli. Enzymes from fungal cellulolytic complex usually act best at pH between 4 and 5 under temperatures from 40 to 60 °C and can be used for either sequential (SHF) or simultaneous (SSF) hydrolysis together alcoholic fermentation. In this review, the main raw materials for production of cellulases are identified, as well as the state of art of enzymes' properties, production and main applications.