• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
• /
• v.10 no.4
• /
• pp.537-542
• /
• 1999

Removal of sulfur compounds in the petroleum products is essential for the prevention of sulfur oxides. However, conventional methods involving catalytic reactions are found to have some limitations in complete removal of harmful sulfur compounds and to require relatively high cost. Recently, desulfurization process using microorganisms is known to be promising in terms of excellent sulfur removal efficiency and reasonably low treatment cost. For the biodesulfurization process to be effective, the solubilization of sulfur compounds into aqueous solution is a prerequisite. In this study, polyoxyethylene nonionic surfactants were used in order to enhance the solubilization of sulfur spectrophotometer. The solubilization of sulfur compounds was found to increase with temperature and to bo abruptly increased at above 1 wt % surfactant solutions. It was also observed that the longer the hydrophobic chain of the surfactant molecule, the higher solubilizing power of a nonionic surfactant. It was found that the Tergitol series surfactants showed higher solubilizing capacity than Neodol series presumably due to the disruption of the regular packing in the hydrocarbon region of the surfactant aggregates.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
• /
• v.20 no.4
• /
• pp.311-319
• /
• 2011

Overusing chemical fertilizers involves potassium accumulation in the soil, which can become a toxicity problem in agriculture. This study was conducted to investigate the effect of potassium (K) treatment on growth, physiological characteristics, and morphological changes using Chinese cabbage (Brassica rapa L. ssp. campestris). With high (600 mM) K treatment, the plant growth traits of leaf length, leaf area, and fresh and dry weight of shoots and roots decreased, whereas chlorophyll content increased. As the concentration of K increasing, total N, P, and K increased in leaves, but concentrations of Ca, Mg, and Na decreased. However, Mn, Fe and Zn contents were highest in 100 mM K treatment. Chlorophyll a, b, and carotenoids increased with increasing K concentration. Maximum photochemical efficiency ($F_v/F_m$) was not significant in the all treatments, whereas $CO_2$ assimilation decreased with increasing K level due to stomatal degradation. Total free amino acids increased with the 10 and 100 mM K but decreased at 600 mM K treatments. Therefore, the growth and physiological characteristics of Chinese cabbage ascertained that tolerance up to 100 mM K when grown with nutrient solution in pot culture.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
• /
• v.22 no.4
• /
• pp.376-383
• /
• 2011

The CMCs of LA and LA3 nonionic surfactants obtained from the reaction between glycidol and lauryl alcohol were found to be $0.97{\times}10^{-3}mol/L$ and $1.02{\times}10^{-3}mol/L$ respectively and the surface tensions for 1 wt% surfactant were 26.99 and 27.48 mN/m respectively. Dynamic surface tension measurements using a maximum bubble pressure tensiometer showed that the adsorption rate of surfactant molecules at the interface between the air and the surfactant solution was found to be relatively fast in both surfactant systems, presumably due to the high mobility of surfactant molecules. The contact angles of LA and LA3 nonionic surfactants were 27.8 and $20.9^{\circ}$ respectively and the dynamic interfacial tension measurement by a spinning drop tensiometer showed that interfacial tensions at equilibrium condition in both systems were almost the same. Also both surfactant systems reached equilibrium in 2~3 min. Both surfactant solutions showed high stability when evaluated by conductometric method and the LA nonionic surfactant system provided the higher foam stability than the LA3 nonionic surfactant system. The phase behavior experiments showed a lower phase or oil in water (O/W) microemulsion in equilibrium with an excess oil phase at all temperatures studied. No three-phase region was observed including a middle-phase microemulsion or a lamellar liquid crystalline phase.

• KSBB Journal
• /
• v.15 no.2
• /
• pp.167-173
• /
• 2000

For selective elimination of salt from boiled oyster extract (BOE), electrodialyzer was used and the desalination conditions of B BOE were investigated. The ion-exchange membrane with a molecular weight cut off 100 Da was used for desalting of B BOE. The desalination efficiency at pH 4.0 was 13% higher than that at pH 9.0 when BOE was desalted for 90min. The e electrodialysis pro$\infty$ss could remove above 90% of the initial salt content when 5% BOE was desalted at pH 5.62 for 1 100min. The initial volume and concentration of permeation solution did not have significant effects on desalination time and r ratio. The important factors for the desalination of BOE were found to be pH and concentration of BOE. The results obtained prove that electrodialysis is a practical solution to the problem of selective elimination of salt from BOE.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
• /
• v.36 no.5
• /
• pp.375-380
• /
• 2003

This study was carried out 1) to investigate the pH effect on solubilization of phenanthrene by biosurfactant in aqueous system and 2) to evaluate the pH effect on the biodegradation rate of phenanthrene in the presence and the absence of the biosurfactant by phenanthrene degraders. Tween 80, which is a chemically synthesized surfactant, showed greater solubilizing capacity than rhamnolipid. The solubilization capacity can be expressed as a MSR(molar solubilization ratio=moles of organic compounds solubilized per mole of surfactant). The calculated MSR of Tween 80 and rhamnolipid were 0.1449 and 0.0425 respectively. The kinetic study of phenanthrene solubilization by rhamnolipid showed that solubilization mechanism could reach equilibrium within 24 hours. Addition of 240 ppm rhamnolipid solution, which concentration is 4.3 times of Critical Micelle Concentration(CMC), caused 9 times solubility enhancement compared to water solubility. The highest solubilities were detected around a pH range of 4.5-5.5. Changes in apparent solubility with the changes in pH are possibly related to the fact that the rhamnolipid, an anionic surfactant, can form different structures depending on the pH. Two biodegradation experiments were performed in the absence and the presence of rhamnolipid, with the cell growth investigated using a spread plate method. The specific growth rates at pH 6 and 7 were higher than at the other pH, and the HPLC analysis data, for the total phenanthrene loss, confirmed the trends in the $\mu$(specific growth rate) values. In presence of rhamnolipid, maximum $\mu$ values shifted from around pH 5 which showed maximum enhancement of solubility in the abiotic experiment, compared to the $\mu$ values obtained without the biosurfactant. In this study, the increase in the observed specific grow rate(1.44 times) was not as high as the increase in solubilization(5 times). This was supported by the fact all the solubilized phenanthrene is not bioavailable to microorganisms.