• Journal of Adhesion and Interface
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.44-52
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• 2002

Composite materials are created by combining two or more component to achieve desired properties which could not be obtained with the separate components. The use of reinforcing fillers, which can reduce material costs and improve certain properties, is increasing in thermoplastic polymer composites. Currently, various inorganic fillers such as talc, mica, clay, glass fiber and calcium carbonate are being incorporated into thermoplastic composites. Nevertheless, lignocellulose fibers have drawn attention due to their abundant availability, low cost and renewable nature. In recent, interest has grown in composites made from lignocellulose fiber in thermoplastic polymer matrices, particularly for low cost/high volume applications. In addition to high specific properties, lignocellulose fibers offer a number of benefits for lignocellulose fiber/thermoplastic polymer composites. These include low hardness, which minimize abrasion of the equipment during processing, relatively low density, biodegradability, and low cost on a unit-volume basis. In spite of the advantage mentioned above, the use of lignocellulose fibers in thermoplastic polymer composites has been plagued by difficulties in obtaining good dispersion and strong interfacial adhesion because lignocellulose fiber is hydrophilic and thermoplastic polymer is hydrophobic. The application of lignocellulose fibers as reinforcements in composite materials requires, just as for glass-fiber reinforced composites, a strong adhesion between the fiber and the matrix regardless of whether a traditional polymer matrix, a biodegradable polymer matrix or cement is used. Further this article gives a survey about physical and chemical treatment methods which improve the fiber matrix adhesion, their results and effects on the physical properties of composites. Coupling agents in lignocellulose fiber and polymer composites play a very important role in improving the compatibility and adhesion between polar lignocellulose fiber and non-polar polymeric matrices. In this article, we also review various kinds of coupling agent and interfacial mechanism or phenomena between lignocellulose fiber and thermoplastic polymer.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.27 no.9
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• pp.1670-1680
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• 2017

Lignocellulose, composed mostly of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin generated through secondary growth of woody plant, is considered as promising resources for biofuel. In order to use lignocellulose as a biofuel, biodegradation besides high-cost chemical treatments were applied, but knowledge on the decomposition of lignocellulose occurring in a natural environment is insufficient. We analyzed the 16S rRNA gene and metagenome to understand how the lignocellulose is decomposed naturally in decayed Torreya nucifera (L) of Bija forest (Bijarim) in Gotjawal, an ecologically distinct environment. A total of 464,360 reads were obtained from 16S rRNA gene sequencing, representing diverse phyla; Proteobacteria (51%), Bacteroidetes (11%) and Actinobacteria (10%). The metagenome analysis using single molecules real-time sequencing revealed that the assembled contigs determined originated from Proteobacteria (58%) and Actinobacteria (10.3%). Carbohydrate Active enZYmes (CAZy)- and Protein families (Pfam)-based analysis showed that Proteobacteria was involved in degrading whole lignocellulose, and Actinobacteria played a role only in a part of hemicellulose degradation. Combining these results, it suggested that Proteobacteria and Actinobacteria had selective biodegradation potential for different lignocellulose substrates. Thus, it is considered that understanding of the systemic microbial degradation pathways may be a useful strategy for recycle of lignocellulosic biomass, and the microbial enzymes in Bija forest can be useful natural resources in industrial processes.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.42 no.6
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• pp.700-707
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• 2014

The effect of steam and ozone pretreatments on fibrillation efficiency by wet disk-milling was investigated. Hemicellulose (40%) and lignin (42%) of Korean white pine were partially removed by steam and ozone pretreatments, respectively. With increasing wet disk-milling time, the diameter of fibers was significantly decreased and its size distribution became narrow. Especially, the average diameters of lignocellulose nanofibers after steam and ozone pretreatments were 19 nm and 12 nm, respectively. Thus-obtained lignocellulose nanofibers-reinforced polyurethane composite was prepared. Tensile strength and elastic modulus were drastically improved with increasing wet disk-milling time and lignocellulose nanofiber content. Nanocomposite reinforced by lignocellulose nanofibers after two pretreatments showed higher tensile properties, compared to that reinforced by lignocellulose nanofiber without pretreatment, at the similar wet disk-milling time.

• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.99-107
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• 1991

Lignocellulose and lignolic compounds were absolutely given much weight In the biosphere, and their degradation was essential for continuous biological carbon circulation. Whereas aerobic cellulolytic microorganism dissolved the cellulose into their elements in the first stage, strict anaerobic cellulolytic microorganism's role was taken I increasing interest through the recent research. It was reviewed that anaerobic microbial degradation process of lignocellulose and its derivatives (cellulose, lignin, oligolignol and monoaromatic compound), and function of anaerobic microorganism on the. environmental ecology.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.96-102
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• 2017

The lignocellulose that is a major component of spent coffee ground was degraded and saccharified. To implement the spent coffee, after several pre-treatments, inoculation of Phanerochaete chrysosporium and solid-state fermentation were conducted. The optimal temperature of the enzymes (lignin peroxidase, manganese peroxidase, xylanase, laccase, and cellulase) for degradation of lignocellulose by P. chrysosporium was found. We also measured the maximum activity of enzymes (lignin peroxidase 0.15 IU/mL, manganese peroxidase 0.90 IU/mL, laccase 0.11 IU/mL, cellulase 5.87 IU/mL, carboxymethyl cellulase 9.52 IU/mL, xylanase 1.16 IU/mL) used for the process. As a result, 4.73 mg/mL of reduced sugar was obtained and 61.02% of lignin was degraded by solid state fermentation of P. chrysosporium on spent coffee ground.

• Journal of Korea Technical Association of The Pulp and Paper Industry
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.160-167
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• 2015

The reduction of energy consumption in papermaking process has been considered as one of the major issue in the paper technology. The energy efficiency of paper mill becomes more significant for the mill which manufacture the board grade products such as linerboard with recycled paper such as OCC. The application of lignocellulose spacer to the board grade paper stock would be the feasible solution by increasing the paper bulk and the drying efficiency. The major defects originated from the application of the lignocellulose spacer could be the loss of strength properties. In this study, the ways for improving the strength properties of the spacer-added linerboard were suggested and evaluated. The effects of the addition of various types polyelectrolytes were tested and the different methods of polyelectrolytes were applied for finding the efficient way. The pretreatments of lignocellulose spacer with the polyelectrolytes during wood spacer hydration resulted in the higher strength properties than the typical application method such as the addition to the mixed stock. Multilayer treatments of the spacer with polyelectrolytes were also evaluated and leaded to the higher strength properties with the similar bulk improvement.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.77-83
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• 2017

Lignocellulosic biomass represents a potentially large resource to supply the world's fuel and chemical feedstocks. Enzymatic bioconversion of this substrate offers a reliable strategy for accessing this material under mild reaction conditions. Owing to the complex nature of lignocellulose, many different enzymatic activities are required to function in concert to perform efficient transformation. In nature, large multienzyme complexes are known to effectively hydrolyze lignocellulose into constituent monomeric sugars. We created artificial complexes of enzymes, called rosettazymes, in order to hydrolyze glucuronoxylan, a common lignocellulose component, into its cognate sugar ${\small{D}}$-xylose and then further convert the ${\small{D}}$-xylose into ${\small{D}}$-xylonic acid, a Department of Energy top-30 platform chemical. Four different types of enzymes (endoxylanase, ${\alpha}$-glucuronidase, ${\beta}$-xylosidase, and xylose dehydrogenase) were incorporated into the artificial complexes. We demonstrated that tethering our enzymes in a complex resulted in significantly more activity (up to 71%) than the same amount of enzymes free in solution. We also determined that varying the enzyme composition affected the level of complex-related activity enhancement as well as overall yield.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.305-313
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• 2018

A microbial consortium, TMC7, was enriched for the degradation of natural lignocellulosic materials under high temperature. TMC7 degraded 79.7% of rice straw during 15 days of incubation at $65^{\circ}C$. Extracellular xylanase was effectively secreted and hemicellulose was mainly degraded in the early stage (first 3 days), whereas primary decomposition of cellulose was observed as of day 3. The optimal temperature and initial pH for extracellular xylanase activity and lignocellulose degradation were $65^{\circ}C$ and between 7.0 and 9.0, respectively. Extracellular xylanase activity was maintained above 80% and 85% over a wide range of temperature ($50-75^{\circ}C$) and pH values (6.0-11.0), respectively. Clostridium likely had the largest contribution to lignocellulose conversion in TMC7 initially, and Geobacillus, Aeribacillus, and Thermoanaerobacterium might have also been involved in the later phase. These results demonstrate the potential practical application of TMC7 for lignocellulosic biomass utilization in the biotechnological industry under hot and alkaline conditions.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.740-746
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• 2021

Efficient cellulolytic enzyme production is important for the development of lignocellulose-degrading enzyme mixtures. However, purification of cellulases from their native hosts is time- and labor-consuming. In this study, a constitutive expression system was developed in Penicillium oxalicum for the secreted production of proteins. Using a constitutive polyubiquitin gene promoter and cultivating with glucose as the sole carbon source, nine cellulolytic enzymes of different origins with relatively high purity were produced within 48 h. When supplemented to a commercial cellulase preparation, cellobiohydrolase I from P. funiculosum and cellobiohydrolase II from Talaromyces verruculosus showed remarkable enhancing effects on the hydrolysis of steam-exploded corn stover. Additionally, a synergistic effect was observed for these two cellobiohydrolases during the hydrolysis. Taken together, the constitutive expression system provides a convenient tool for the production of cellulolytic enzymes, which is expected to be useful in the development of highly efficient lignocellulose-degrading enzyme mixtures.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.776-784
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• 2019

Polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB), the most well-known polyhydroxyalkanoate, is a bio-based, biodegradable polymer that has the potential to replace petroleum-based plastics. Lignocellulose hydrolysate, a non-edible resource, is a promising substrate for the sustainable, fermentative production of PHB. However, its application is limited by the generation of inhibitors during the pretreatment processes. In this study, we investigated the feasibility of PHB production in E. coli in the presence of inhibitors found in lignocellulose hydrolysates. Our results show that the introduction of PHB synthetic genes (bktB, phaB, and phaC from Ralstonia eutropha H16) improved cell growth in the presence of the inhibitors such as furfural, 4-hydroxybenzaldehyde, and vanillin, suggesting that PHB synthetic genes confer resistance to these inhibitors. In addition, increased PHB production was observed in the presence of furfural as opposed to the absence of furfural, suggesting that this compound could be used to stimulate PHB production. Our findings indicate that PHB production using lignocellulose hydrolysates in recombinant E. coli could be an innovative strategy for cost-effective PHB production, and PHB could be a good target product from lignocellulose hydrolysates, especially glucose.