TABLE 6.
Bacteria, fungi, and enzymes associated with polyurethane (PUR) biodegradation.
| Strain/Enzyme | Isolated source | Tested PUR | Incubation time, d | Weight loss, % | Molecular weight | Degradation products | References |
| Chaetomium globosum | Soil | Polyester/polyether PUR film | 21 | – | – | – | Darby and Kaplan, 1968 |
| Curvularia senegalensis | Soil | Impranil DLN | 7 | – | – | – | Crabbe et al., 1994 |
| Geomyces pannorum | Acidic soil | Impranil DLN | 150 | – | – | – | Cosgrove et al., 2007 |
| Alternaria sp. PURDK2 | Environment | Polyether PUR film | 70 | 27.5 | – | Detected | Matsumiya et al., 2010 |
| Pestalotiopsis microspora | Plant stems | Impranil DLN, | 14 | – | – | – | Russell et al., 2011 |
| Aspergillus flavus | Plastic disposal sites | Polyester PUR film | 30 | 60.6 | – | – | Mathur and Prasad, 2012 |
| Cladosporium tenuissimum | Garden soil | Impranil DLN; polyether varnish | 14 | 65 | – | Detected | Álvarez-Barragán et al., 2016 |
| Aspergillus tubingensis | Waste disposal site | Polyester PUR beads | 20 | – | – | – | Khan et al., 2017 |
| Aspergillus sp. S45 | Waste-dumping site | Polyester PUR film | 28 | 15–20 | – | Detected | Osman et al., 2017 |
| Penicillium sp. | PUR wastes | Impranil DLN; polyester/polyether PUR film | 60 | 8.9 | Decreased | – | Magnin et al., 2019a |
| Corynebacterium sp., BI2; Pseudomonas aeruginosa | Soil | Polyester PUR foam | 84 | 1.2–17.7 | – | – | Kay et al., 1991 |
| Comamonas acidovorans | Soil | Polyester PUR film | 7 | – | – | Detected | Nakajima-Kambe et al., 1995 |
| Bacillus sp. | Soil | Impranil DLN | 4 | – | – | – | Ii et al., 1998 |
| Pseudomonas fluorescens | Soil | Impranil DLN | ND | – | – | – | Howard and Blake, 1998 |
| Pseudomonas chlororaphis | Soil | Impranil DLN | ND | – | – | – | Howard et al., 1999 |
| Bacillus subtilis | Soil | Impranil DLN | ND | – | – | – | Rowe and Howard, 2002 |
| Acinetobacter gerneri | Soil | Impranil DLN | ND | – | – | – | Howard and Burks, 2012 |
| Alicycliphilus sp. BQ1 | Decomposed soft foam | Polyester PUR film | 100 | – | – | Detected | Oceguera-Cervantes et al., 2007 |
| Bacillus pumilus | PUR-contaminated water | Impranil DLN | 3 | – | – | – | Nair and Kumar, 2007 |
| Pseudomonas chlororaphis | Soil | Ester PUR foam | 12 | – | – | – | Gautam et al., 2007 |
| Bacillus sp. AF8; Pseudomonas sp. AF9; Micrococcus sp. 10; Arthrobacter sp. AF11; Corynebacterium sp. AF12 | Soil | Polyester PUR film | 28 | – | – | – | Shah et al., 2008 |
| Bacillus subtilis; Pseudomonas aeruginosa | Soil | Polyester PUR pellets | 20 | – | – | Detected | Shah et al., 2016 |
| Pseudomonas putida | Soil | Impranil DLN | 8 | – | – | – | Peng et al., 2014 |
| Bacillus safensis | Cedar wood | Impranil DLN; | 7 | – | – | – | Nakkabi et al., 2015a, b |
| Aspergillus niger; Cladosporium herbarum | Natural humid conditions | Polyether PUR foam | 70 | – | – | – | Filip, 1979 |
| Staphylococcus epidermidis | An intravenous catheter | Polyether PUR film | 30 | – | – | – | Jansen et al., 1991 |
| Alternaria tenuissima | Infected leaves | Polyether PUR film | 60 | – | – | – | Oprea et al., 2018 |
| Pseudomonas denitrificans, Pseudomonas fluorescens, Bacillus subtilis, Yarrowia lipolytica | Soil | Polyether PUR film | 150 | 2.8–10.5 | – | – | Stepien et al., 2017 |
| esterase | Curvularia senegalensis | Impranil DLN | 21 | – | – | – | Crabbe et al., 1994 |
| pudA | Comamonas acidovorans | Polyester PUR film | 2 | – | – | – | Akutsu et al., 1998 |
| lipase | Bacillus subtilis | Impranil DLN | 1 | – | – | – | Rowe and Howard, 2002 |
| pulA | Pseudomonas fluorescens | Impranil DLN | ND | – | – | – | Ruiz and Howard, 1999 |
| pueA | Pseudomonas chlororaphis | Impranil DLN | 6 h | – | – | – | Stern and Howard, 2000 |
| pueB | Pseudomonas chlororaphis | Impranil DLN | 20 h | – | – | – | Howard et al., 2001b |
| LC cutinase; TfCut2; Tcur1278; Tcur0390 | Compost metagenomic library; Thermobifida fusca | Impranil DLN; polyester PUR cubes | 100 h | 0.3–3.2 | decreased | – | Schmidt et al., 2017 |
| Esterase E3576 | Protéus (France) | Polyester/polyether PUR film | 51 | 33 | – | Detected | Magnin et al., 2019b |