High-Level Project Summary
We found an innovative way to analyze plastic using fungal enzymes under certain conditions. We used a living organism from nature in order to solve a big problem facing the Earth. The importance of this method lies in solving the problem of plastic that the Earth suffers from, and at the same time we can use the gas produced from the analysis process "methane gas" as a renewable source of energy.
Link to Project "Demo"
Link to Final Project
Detailed Project Description
The enzymes of the fungi work to break up the chemical bonds on the plastic, and as a result of the disintegration of these bonds, the plastic decomposes, and this decomposition produces methane, which is used as a renewable energy that can raise the country's economy and get rid of the plastic found in land and water. In addition, due to the dumping of plastic in nature and its slow decomposition due to sunlight, the proportion of greenhouse gas emissions such as carbon dioxide increased to 416 parts per million more than 650000 years ago. Therefore, the temperature of the planet has increased by 2.1 degrees F since 18880. By solving this problem we will be able to protect the planet from climate change and any other damages.
Space Agency Data
We use two resources from NASA space app which is :
-NASA open data portal :
https://data.nasa.gov/
-climate change and global warming:
https://climate.nasa.gov/
We use the first one to get more information about fungi
https://data.nasa.gov/Earth-Science/Proteomic-characterization-of-Aspergillus-fumigatu/j3u9-nyfn
and the second one to know more about the greenhouse gas emissions.
Hackathon Journey
A very beautiful experience to meet the challenges that made us faster in choosing the appropriate and accurate information for our project, our inspiration is that fungi are the only organism that can decompose cellulose. By choosing the best and easiest information and helping scientific research, we would like to thank the International Space Agency, NASA, for presenting this challenge and giving young people the opportunity to share ideas to help society. Moreover we would like to thank Dr. Asma, Dr. Muhammad and Dr. Vijay for their effective assistance, which helped us a lot to understand this project and our constant encouragement to move forward and make it a reality on the ground.
References
- Ali, M. I., Ahmed, S., Robson, G., Javed, I., Ali, N., Atiq, N., & Hameed, A. (2014). Isolation and molecular characterization of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic degrading fungal isolates. Journal of basic microbiology, 54(1), 18-27
- Andersen, B., & Nissen, A. T. (2000). Evaluation of media for detection of Stachybotrys and Chaetomium species associated with water-damaged buildings. International biodeterioration & biodegradation, 46(2), 111-116.
- Gavito, M. E., & Azcon–Aguilar, C. (2012). Temperature stress in arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi: a test for adaptation to soil temperature in three isolates of Funneliformis mosseae from different climates. Agricultural and Food Science, 21(1), 2-11.
- Kale, S. K., Deshmukh, A. G., Dudhare, M. S., & Patil, V. B. (2015). Microbial degradation of plastic: a review. Journal of Biochemical Technology, 6(2), 952-961.
- Maharachchikumbura, S. S., Al-Sadi, A. M., Al-Kharousi, M., AL-SAADY, N. A. D. I. Y. A., & Hyde, K. D. (2016). A checklist of fungi in Oman. Phytotaxa, 273(4), 219-261.
Tags
#art, #plastic, #fungi, #methane, #earth
Global Judging
This project has been submitted for consideration during the Judging process.