Researchers at the University of Duisberg-Essen in Germany have discovered a bacterial enzyme that creates a key raw material for making acrylic glass and acryclic paints. This enzyme could provide a new pathway to producing acrylics without using fossil fuels or generating much toxic waste. While bacteria have been used to create various plastics before, this is the first time scientists have discovered a biosynthetic pathway to making acrylic glass--the clear, durable plastic often used as a shatter-resistant alternative to glass. The researchers believe that acrylic glass made with the newly discovered bacterial enzyme could hit the market in roughly a decade.

Acrylic glass is made by polymerizing methyl methacrylate, or MMA, in baths of methyacrylic acid, a highly corrosive chemical solvent. The MMA is derived from petrochemicals. As a result, large amounts of fossil fuels are used, and toxic byproducts are left over.

Rohwerder and his colleague Roland Müller, from the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research in Germany, were originally studying a method for biodegrading methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE), a gasoline additive. In a paper published in the Journal of Applied and Environmental Microbiology in June 2006, they described an enzyme in bacteria that degraded MTBE. The researchers also mentioned an added benefit of the enzyme--it created 2-HIBA, a precursor to acrylic glass. However, it wasn't until this year that the research team decided to develop the enzyme for creating acrylic glass. This discovery, according to Jalal Hawari, a chemist with the National Research Council Canada, has been much sought after.

The enzyme in question produces 2-HIBA, which is turned into acrylic glass after a series of simple organic-chemistry reactions. Sugar, alcohols, or fatty acids feed the bacteria, which then use the enzyme to make the plastic precursor. Another benefit is that the enzyme may help avoid the use of chemical solvents.

The German company Evonik Industries has purchased the rights to the patent application for the enzyme, and it will reconfigure the process to industrial proportions. With the company's help, the researchers estimate that a functioning pilot plant could be up and running in four years, and a self-sustaining industry in about ten.