Towards a biocatalytic solution for the recycling of carbon fibre composites

There is substantial and growing interest in the use of enzymes as biocatalysts for the degradation and recycling of (poly)crystalline and solid materials such as cellulose and lignin, plastics, and carbon fibre composites. Enzymes can be considered relatively environmentally friendly, cost-effective and sustainable alternatives to conventional chemical catalysts, since they can function under mild conditions (ambient temperature, pressure, pH etc.) and benign solvents such as water. However, challenges remain in the identification, engineering and laboratory evolution of enzymes to work on non-natural substrates, particularly when the substrates are not soluble.

This PhD project aims to:
(i) Investigate the structure/function relationships and mechanistic features of enzymes that bind to and degrade (poly)crystalline and solid materials;
(ii) Develop design rules that can be used to more reliably engineer these enzymes to improve activity and/or expand their substrate scope;
(iii) Use this data-drive approach to engineer enzymes to better degrade polymers and composite materials, with a specific focus on hydrolytic enzymes and bismaleimide (BMI)-fibre composites.

This PhD project will use an interdisciplinary approach combining computational chemistry, enzyme engineering and materials science and is a collaboration between the University of Manchester and BAE Systems. The project will be based in the Manchester Institute of Biotechnology (MIB) and Henry Royce Institute at the University of Manchester and will build on our experience of studying protein-solid interactions, developing an enzyme engineering platform for PETase and other enzymes, and studying enzyme mechanism using computational chemistry.