• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.117-125
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• 2006

A microorganism capable of degrading toluene was isolated from crude oil contaminated soil and identified as Pseudomonas fluorescence. The effects of environmental factors on the degradation of toluene were investigated. The optimum temperature for toluene degradation was $30^{\circ}C$ and the maximum specific cell growth and toluene degradation rates were $0.76hr^{-1}$ and $0.36hr^{-1}$, respectively. Although the wild cells were not able to degrade toluene at $10^{\circ}C$ and $40^{\circ}C$, the cells adapted to toluene at $30^{\circ}C$ degraded 100mg/L of toluene completely at $10^{\circ}C$ and 80% of the toluene at $40^{\circ}C$. The wild cells were not able to degrade more than 200mg/L of toluene but the toluene-adapted cells degraded up to 300mg/L of toluene. Although the optimum pH was 7.0, the degradation rates were not much different in the range of 5.5 to 9.0. When nitrate was used as a nitrogen source instead of ammonium, the adaptation period became longer by 2~10 hours and the cell growth yield became lower by 45%. The toluene degradation rates after adaptation period, however, were almost same in both cases. The observations in this study will be used in the future biofilter design and operation.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.83-90
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• 2007

Sphingomonas sp. KS 301, which was isolated from oil contaminated soil, was shown to have five different SODs (SODI, II, III, IV, V) which can be separated by DEAE-Sepharose chromatography, and SOD III was finally purified in this study by ammonium sulfate precipitation, DEAE-Sepharose chromatography, Superose 12 gel filtration and Uno-Q1 ion exchange chromatography. The molecular weight of SOD III was 23 kDa as determined by SDS-PAGE and the apparent molecular weight of the native enzyme was estimated to be approximately 71 kDa by Superose-12 gel filtration chromatography. These data suggest that the purified SOD consists of at least two subunits. The specific activity of the SOD III was higher than Mn type or Fe type SOD of Escherichia coli by 5 fold. To determine the type of SOD III, inhibitory effects of $NaN_{3},\;H_{2}O_{2},\;KCN$ were examined. 10 mM $NaN_{3}$ was able to inhibit 56% of the SOD III activity, which indicates that this SOD is Mn type. The optimum pH of the SOD III was 7.0 and the optimum temperature was $20^{\circ}C$. N-terminal amino acid sequence of purified SOD III was most similar to those of Psudomonase ovalis and Vibrio cholerae among bacteria.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.267-271
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• 2003

Burkholderia sp. D5, a polyaromatic hydrocarbons(PAHs)-degrading bacterium, was isolated from oil-contaminated soil. The bacterium could utilize phenanthrene (Phe) as a sole carbon source but could not use pyrene (Pyr). However, the strain could degrade Pyr when a cosubstrate such as yeast extract (YE) was supplemented. The PAH degradation rate of the bacterium was enhanced by the addition of other organic materials such as YE, peptone and glucose. YE was a particularly effective additive in stimulating cell growth as well as PAH degradation. When 1 g-YE/L was supplemented into the basal salt medium (BSM) with 215 mg-Phe/L, the specific growth rate (0.28 h-1) and Phe-degrading rate (29.30 μmol/L/h) were enhanced approximately ten and two times more than those obtained in the BSM with 215 mg-Phe/L, respectively. Through kinetic analysis, the maximum specific growth rate (μmax) and PAH degrading rate (Vmax) for Phe were obtained as 0.34/h and 289 ${\mu}mol$/L/h, respectively. Also, μmax and Vmax for Pyr were 0.27 h-1 and 50 ${\mu}mol$/L/h, respectively. The degradation rates for each Phe (2.20 μmol/L/h) and Pyr (2.18 μmol/L/h) were lower in mixture substrates than in a single substrate (29.30 ${\mu}mol$/L/h and 9.58 ${\mu}mol$/L/h, respectively). Burkholderia sp. D5 can degrade Phe and Pyr contained in soil, and the PAH degradation rates in soil were 20.03 ${\mu}mol$/L/h for Phe and 1.09 ${\mu}mol$/L/h for Pyr.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2009

This research was performed to assess a Fenton-like oxidation using naturally present iron in the field to treat remained oils throughout silty clay residues which finally resided even after a series of soil washing process. Biodegradability was thus tested for reaction products to investigate a possible treatment of the Fenton-like oxidation coupled with a biological treatment process. For those purposes, two types of field soil samples (e.g., dewatered cake after conditioning with a polymer and not-dewatered residue) were tested to remove TPH by adding the various concentration of hydrogen peroxide ($H_2O_2$). Moreover the biodegradability of treated samples was observed based on the ratio of $BOD_5/COD_{Cr}$ after Fenton-like oxidation. The Highest removal of TPH was at 1% of hydrogen peroxide ($H_2O_2$) when hydrogen peroxide ($H_2O_2$) was continuously injected for a period of time rather than that of spot introduction with the same amount of it. For the dewatered cake, TPH was effectively treated when the ratio of solid and water was mixed at 1 : 2. Employing cooking oil could increase solubility of TPH due to enhanced surface-active escalating TPH desorption from silty clay. Nonetheless, the biodegradability was decreased as long as the oxidation duration being extended regardless of operational conditions. It was therefore proved that Fenton-like oxidation using $H_2O_2$ and natural iron minerals was able to remove adsorbed oils in silty clay but the removal efficiency of TPH was low. And if a biological treatment process followed after Fenton-like oxidation, microorganisms would need enough time for acclimation.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.69-78
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• 2010

In order to investigate the degree of household dust contamination, 48 samples of household dust (24 from urban area and 24 from rural area) in Daegu city were collected in vacuum cleaner during January to February 2009. Samples were sieved below 100 ${\mu}m$, and 14 elements (Al, Ca, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Na, Ni, Pb, V, Zn) were analyzed using ICP after acid extraction. Results obtained from the source assessment of trace elements using enrichment factor showed that Ca, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Na, and V were influenced by natural sources such as weathered rock and resuspended soil, while Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn were influenced by anthropogenic sources such as fuel combustion and waste incineration. Concentrations were remarkably higher in components from natural sources than in components from urban anthropogenic sources. Household dust in urban area was more affected by anthropogenic sources compared with that of rural area. Pollution index of heavy metals revealed that urban area was 1.8 times more contaminated with heavy metal components than rural area. The correlation analysis among trace elements indicated that components were correlated with natural sources-natural sources (Al-Mg, Al-Mn, Fe-Mn) and natural sources-anthropogenic sources (Al-V, Fe-Cr, V-Mn) in both urban area and rural area. Trace element components of rural area were more correlated than those of urban area. Houses that use oil for heating fuel had relatively higher contents of heavy metals rather than those using gas or electricity for heating fuel. Houses with children also had higher contents of heavy metals. In addition, the age of houses was found to influence the heavy metal levels in household dusts, with older houses (>10years) having higher concentrations than newer houses (<10years) and houses located near the major road (<10 m) were found to have relatively higher heavy metal levels in household dust.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.24 no.9
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• pp.988-994
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• 2014

The effluents of chemical and petroleum industries often contain non-biodegradable aromatic compounds, with phenol being one of the major organic pollutants present among a wide variety of highly toxic organic chemicals. Phenol is toxic upon ingestion, contact, or inhalation, and it is lethal to fish even at concentrations as low as 0.005 ppm. Phenol biodegradation has been studied in detail using bacterial strains. However, these microorganisms suffer from substrate inhibition at high concentrations of phenol, whereby growth is inhibited. A phenol-degrading bacterium, P21, was isolated from oil-contaminated soil. The phenotypic characteristics and a phylogenetic analysis indicated the close relationship of strain P21 to Rhodococcus pyridinovorans. Phenol biodegradation by strain P21 was studied under shaking condition. The optimal conditions for phenol biodegradation by strain P21 were 0.09% $KNO_3$, 0.1% $K_2HPO_4$, 0.3% $NaH_2PO_4$, 0.015% $MgSO_4{\cdot}7H_2O$, 0.001% $FeSO_4{\cdot}7H_2O$, initial pH 9, and $20-30^{\circ}C$, respectively. When 1,000 ppm of phenol was added to the optimal medium, the strain P21 completely degraded it within two days. Rhodococcus pyridinovorans P21 could grow in up to 1,500 ppm of phenol as the sole carbon source in a batch culture, but it could not grow in a medium containing above 2,000 ppm. Moreover, strain P21 could utilize toxic compounds, such as toluene, xylene, and hexane, as a sole carbon source. However, no growth was detected on chloroform.