• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
• /
• v.25 no.7
• /
• pp.1270-1280
• /
• 2001

In this research of biodegradable polymers, it is essential to investigate the relation between biodegradability and molecular structure such as chemical constitution, hydrophilicity, molecular weight, crystallinity, chain orientation, and so on. It is also expected that hydrophilicity of polymer can affect biodegradability because biodegradation occurs with the help of enzymes and microorganisms. This study is to investigate the effect of hydrophilicity on biodegradability of polyesters. Hydrophilicity was varied by adding 5~30 mol% of amide groups, since amide groups are hydrophilic and used for improving thermal and mechanical properties. Surface energies and nitrogen contents by ESCA were measured to determine their hydrophilicity. The biodegradation was examined in activated sludge, enzyme and natural soil by $CO_2$evolution, TOC, weight loss, and observation through microscopy. The results showed that hydrophilicity of polyesteramide films increased with the addition of amide, PBAD series of shorter methylene units showed maximum hydrophilicity at 15~20 mol% of amide contents, but PBSE exhibited maximum values at 5~15 mol% of amide contents. The biodegradability increased as the hydrophilicty on surface increased. The biodegradation rate of PBAD series was higher than that of PBSE series. Therefore, it can be concluded that the addition of appropriate contents of hydrophile enhanced the biodegradability of aliphatic polyesters as well as their physical properties. Also, the experimental results revealed the relation between hydrophilicity and biodegradability of polyesteramides.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.23 no.6
• /
• pp.843-849
• /
• 2013

A dye-decolorizing bacterium was isolated from a soil sample and identified as Bacillus thuringiensis using 16S rRNA sequencing. The bacterium was able to decolorize three different textile dyes, namely, Reactive blue 13, Reactive red 58, and Reactive yellow 42, and a real dyehouse effluent up to 80-95% within 6 h. Some non-textile industrially important dyes were also decolorized to different extents. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and gas chromatography-mass spectrometer analysis of the ethyl acetate extract of Congo red dye and its metabolites showed that the bacterium could degrade it by the asymmetric cleavage of the azo bonds to yield sodium (4-amino-3-diazenylnaphthalene-1-sulfonate) and phenylbenzene. Sodium (4-amino-3-diazenylnaphthalene-1-sulfonate) was further oxidized by the ortho-cleavage pathway to yield 2-(1-amino-2-diazenyl-2-formylvinyl) benzoic acid. There was induction of the activities of laccase and azoreductase during the decolorization of Congo red, which suggests their probable role in the biodegradation. B. thuringiensis was found to be versatile and could be used for industrial effluent biodegradation.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
• /
• v.28 no.3
• /
• pp.150-157
• /
• 2010

Biodegradation behavior of poly(butylene succinate-co-butylene adipate) (PBSA) was examined when PBSA was buried in the natural soil and the soil inoculated with Burkholderia cepacia after sterilization. After 80 days of the soil burial test at room temperature, the PBSA film buried in the natural soil lost 34.0% of its intial weight, while the same film lost 59.2% of its initial weight when buried in the sterile soil inoculated with B. cepacia. The optical and SEM observations of the surface morphology of the PBSA film also indicated that the surface erosion and rupture took place faster when the film was buried in the sterile soil inoculated with B. cepacia compared to the film buried in the natural soil. Viable cell number in the natural soil and that the sterile soil inoculated with B. cepacia increased by a factor of 6~7 and 10~14, respectively as compared to the initial viable cell number.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
• /
• v.8 no.2
• /
• pp.70-77
• /
• 2003

Theoretical estimation of overall stoichiometry for the microbial degradation of hazardous organic compounds is described. Half-reaction method based on microbial energetics was used in the theoretical estimation. In addition to the half-reaction method, other theoretical methods such as intermediate formation, oxygenation reaction, and estimation of the standard free energy of formation by group contribution theory were also applied. As a case study, the application of these methods was demonstrated for the estimation of microbial kinetics in the biodegradation of phenanthrene which was chosen as a model hazardous organic compound along with glucose and hexadecane. The cell yield, oxygen requirement, nitrogen requirement, and mineralization ratio could be estimated from the overall stoichiometry. It is believed that these theoretical estimation methods are useful tools for practical design and assessment of bioremediation of soil and groundwater contaminated with hazardous organic compounds.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
• /
• v.35 no.1
• /
• pp.61-64
• /
• 1999

Organophosphorus inseclicide phosphamidon-degrading bacteria were isolated from agricultural soils and identified using Biolog microtiter assay. All Gram-positive degrading bacterial strains belong to genus Bacillus and many Gram-negative bacteria were rare soil species. Among them fast growing strains on phosphamidon-containing minimal medium were sclected and their biodegrading capability wcre measured. YD-17 which was identified as Capnocytophaga gingivalis showed the highest biodegradation rate. It could incrcase the removal of phosphamidon up to 52%. During the biodegradation continuous increase of amount of cell protein was observed, which indicated that phosphamidon was utilized as a carbon source for phosphamidon-degrading bacteria.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
• /
• v.36 no.2
• /
• pp.190-198
• /
• 2018

The petroleum industry is an important part of the world economy. However, the massive exposure of petroleum in nature is a major cause of environmental pollution. Therefore, the microbial mediated biodegradation of petroleum residues is an emerging scientific approach used to resolve these problem. Through the screening of diesel contaminated soil we isolated a rapid phenanthrene and a diesel degrading bacterium identified as Enterobacter cancerogenus DA1 strain through 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis. The strain was registered in NCBI with an accession number MG270576. The optimal growth condition of the DA1 strain was determined at pH 8 and $35^{\circ}C$, and the highest degradation rate of the diesel was achieved at this condition. At the optimal condition, growth of the strain on the medium containing 0.05% phenanthrene and 0.1% of diesel-fuel was highest at 45 h and 60 h respectively after the incubation period. Biofilm formation was found significantly higher at $35^{\circ}C$ as compared to $30^{\circ}C$ and $40^{\circ}C$. Likewise, the lipase activity was found significantly higher at 48 h after the incubation compared to 24 h and 72 h. These results suggest that the Enterobacter cancerogenus DA1 could be an efficient candidate, for application through ecofriendly scientific approach, for the biodegradation of petroleum products like diesel.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.18 no.5
• /
• pp.946-951
• /
• 2008

The opd gene, encoding organophosphorus hydrolase (OPH) from Flavobacterium sp. capable of degrading a wide range of organophosphate pesticides, was surface- and intracellular-expressed in Synechococcus PCC7942, a prime example of photoautotrophic cyanobacteria. OPH was displayed on the cyanobacterial cell surface using the truncated ice nucleation protein as an anchoring motif. A minor fraction of OPH was displayed onto the outermost surface of cyanobacterial cells, as verified by immunostaining visualized under confocal laser scanning microscopy and OPH activity analysis; however, a substantial fraction of OPH was buried in the cell wall, as demonstrated by proteinase K and lysozyme treatments. The cyanobacterial outer membrane acts as a substrate (paraoxon) diffusion barrier affecting whole-cell biodegradation efficiency. After freeze-thaw treatment, permeabilized whole cells with intracellular-expressed OPH exhibited 14-fold higher bioconversion efficiency ($V_{max}/K_m$) than that of cells with surface-expressed OPH. As cyanobacteria have simple growth requirements and are inexpensive to maintain, expression of OPH in cyanobacteria may lead to the development of a low-cost and low-maintenance biocatalyst that is useful for detoxification of organophosphate pesticides.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
• /
• v.54 no.1
• /
• pp.46-52
• /
• 2018

Biodegradation pathway of dibenzofuran (DBF) of Novosphingobium pentaromativorans US6-1, a high-molecular-weight polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons degrading strain, was investigated via analysis of metabolic intermediates and transcriptome. As a result, 3(2H)-benzofuranone, a basic skeleton of the metabolic intermediates produced by lateral dioxygenation process, was detected as an intermediate. RNA-Seq analysis confirmed that most of the expressed genes upon exposure to DBF were related to the lateral degradation pathway. Based on these results, the biodegradation pathway of DBF by N. pentaromativorans US6-1 was proposed.

• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.12 no.3
• /
• pp.288-293
• /
• 2002

A reactive dye-degrading bacterium was isolated from textile waste water and it was identified as Stenotrophomonas maltophilia based on its biochemical characteristics. The effects of additional carbon and nitrogen sources were investigated for the development of an optimal medium for biodegradation of Remazol Black B by 5. maltophilia. The optimal pH and temperature were determined to be 6.5 and 3$0^{\circ}C$, respectively. Remazol Black B with the initial concentration of 50 ppm could be degraded up to 86% within 28 h.

• Advances in environmental research
• /
• v.9 no.2
• /
• pp.85-95
• /
• 2020

In this study, the decolorization of Evercion Blue P-GR (EBP) and Ostazin Black H-GRN (OBH) was investigated using white-rot fungi named as Trametes versicolor (T. versicolor) by Membrane Bioreactor (MBR) system. This study involved experiments employing synthetic textile wastewater in Membrane Bioreactor (MBR) system (170 ml), initially inoculated with a pure culture of fungi, but operated, other than controlling pH (4.5±0.2) and temperature (25±1℃), under non-sterile conditions. The effect of dye concentrations on fungal biodegradation was also investigated. The decolorization efficiencies were 98%, 90%, and 87% respectively, for EBP when the initial dye concentration of 50, 100, and 200 mg L^-1 were used. However, the decolorization percentages for OBH dye were obtained 95% for 50 mg L^-1 dye solution in 2 days and 66% for 100 mg L^-1 dye solution in 5 days. Possible interactions between dye molecules and the fungal surface were confirmed by SEM, EDX, and FTIR analyses.