• Current Research on Agriculture and Life Sciences
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.41-50
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• 2012

As a part of abating formaldehyde emission of urea-formaldehyde resin, this study was conducted to investigate the rmalcure kinetics of both neat and modified urea-formaldehyde resins using differential scanning calorimetry. Neat urea-formaldehyde resins with three different formaldehyde/urea mol ratios (1.4, 1.2 and 1.0) were modified by adding three different additives (sodium bisulfite, sodium hydrosulfite and acrylamide) at two different levels (1 and 3wt%). An isoconversional method at four different heating rates was employed to characterize thermal cure kinetics of these urea-formaldehyde resins to obtain activation energy ($E{\alpha}$) dependent on the degree of conversion (${\alpha}$). The $E{\alpha}$ values of neat urea-formaldehyde resins (formaldehyde/urea = 1.4 and 1.2) consistently changed as the ${\alpha}$ increased. Neat and modified urea-formaldehyde resins of these two F/U mol ratios did show a decrease of the $E{\alpha}$ at the final stage of the conversion while the $E{\alpha}$ of neat urea-formaldehyde resin (formaldehyde/urea = 1.0) increased as the ${\alpha}$ increased, indicating the presence of incomplete cure. However, the change of the $E{\alpha}$ values of all urea-formaldehyde resins was consistent to that of the Ea values. The isoconversional method indicated that thermal cure kinetics of neat and modified urea-formaldehyde resins showed a strong dependence on the resin viscosity as well as diffusion control reaction at the final stage of the conversion.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.84-90
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• 2011

It is imperative to study the hydrolysis of urea in high saline-sodic condition of a newly reclaimed tidal land in order to overcome the problems associated with use of urea fertilizer. The methodology adopted in this study tried to get a convenient way of estimating rate for N transformation needed in N fate and transport studies by reviewing pH and salt contents which can affect the microbial activity which is closely related to the rate of urea hydrolysis. The hydrolysis of urea over time follows first-order kinetics and soil urease activity in reclaimed soils will be represented by Michaelis-Menten-type kinetics. However, high pH and less microorganisms may delay the hydrolysis of urea due to decrease in urease activity with increasing pH. Therefore, the rate of urea hydrolysis should adopt $V_{max}$ referring enzyme activity ($E_0$) accounting for urease concentration which is indicative for urea hydrolysis, especially in a high saline and sodic soils.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.31 no.10
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• pp.2877-2883
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• 2010

The folding kinetics of $WT^*$ ubiquitin variant with valine to alanine mutation at sequence position 26 (HubWA) was studied by stopped-flow fluorescence spectroscopy. While unfolding kinetics showed a single exponential phase, refolding reaction showed three exponential phases. The semi-logarithmic plot of urea concentration vs. rate constant for the first phase showed v-shape pattern while the second phase showed v-shape with roll-over effect at low urea concentration. The rate constant and the amplitude of the third phase were constant throughout the urea concentrations, suggesting that this phase represents parallel process due to the configurational isomerization. Interestingly, the first and second phases appeared to be coupled since the amplitude of the second phase increased at the expense of the amplitude of the first phase in increasing urea concentrations. This observation together with the roll-over effect in the second folding phase indicates the presence of intermediate state during the folding reaction of HubWA. Quantitative analysis of Hub-WA folding kinetics indicated that this intermediate state is on the folding pathway. Folding kinetics measurement of a mutant HubWA with hydrophobic core residue mutation, Val to Ala at residue position 17, suggested that the intermediate state has significant amount of native interactions, supporting the interpretation that the intermediate is on the folding pathway. It is considered that HubWA is a useful model protein to study the contribution of residues to protein folding process using folding kinetics measurements in conjunction with protein engineering.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.19 no.12
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• pp.1565-1568
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• 2009

Purified Helicobacter pylori urease displayed a sigmoid curve in the plot of velocity versus [S] at urea concentrations less than 0.1mM. Under conditions where preservatives, glycerol, or polyethylene glycol (PEG) were added to the enzyme reaction, the substrate hydrolysis was consistent with Michaelis-Menten kinetics, with a $K_m$ of $0.21\;{\pm}\;0.06\;mM$ and a $V_{max}$ of $1,200\;{\pm}\;300\;{\mu}mol\;min^{-1}\;mg^{-1}$. However, at saturating substrate concentrations, the kinetic parameters of H. pylori urease were unaffected by the presence of the preservatives, and enzyme catalysis conformed to Michaelis-Menten kinetics. The Hill coefficients of the enzyme-catalyzed urea hydrolysis in the presence and absence of PEG were 1 and 2, respectively. Based on these findings, we suggest that H. pylori urease may exist in aggregated and dissociated forms, each with intact function but differing kinetics that may be of importance in maximizing urea breakdown at varying urea concentrations in vivo.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.99-104
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• 2011

BACKGROUND: Application of urea may increase $CO_2$ emission from soils due both to $CO_2$ generation from urea hydrolysis and fertilizer-induced decomposition of soil organic carbon (SOC). The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of increasing urea application on $CO_2$ emission from soil and mineralization kinetics of indigenous SOC. METHODS AND RESULTS: Emission of $CO_2$ from a soil amended with four different rates (0, 175, 350, and 700 mg N/kg soil) of urea was investigated in a laboratory incubation experiment for 110 days. Cumulative $CO_2$ emission ($C_{cum}$) was linearly increased with urea application rate due primarily to the contribution of urea-C through hydrolysis to total $CO_2$ emission. First-order kinetics parameters ($C_0$, mineralizable SOC pool size; k, mineralization rate) became greater with increasing urea application rate; $C_0$ increased from 665.1 to 780.3 mg C/kg and k from 0.024 to 0.069 $day^{-1}$, determinately showing fertilizer-induced SOC mineralization. The relationship of $C_0$ (non-linear) and k (linear) with urea-N application rate revealed different responses of $C_0$ and k to increasing rate of fertilizer N. CONCLUSION(s): The relationship of mineralizable SOC pool size and mineralization rate with urea-N application rate suggested that increasing N fertilization may accelerate decomposition of readily decomposable SOC; however, it may not always stimulate decomposition of non-readily decomposable SOC that is protected from microbial decomposition.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.14 no.9
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• pp.1216-1220
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• 2001

Effect of hydroquinone (HQ) on rumen urease activity was studied. Hydroquinone at concentrations of 0.01 ppm, 0.1 ppm, 1 ppm, and 10 ppm inhibited urease activity of intact rumen microbes in vitro by 25%, 34%, 55% and 64% respectively. In the presence of low concentrations of $\beta$-mercaptoethanol, rumen urease could be solubilized and partially purified. The Km for the enzyme was $2{\times}10^{-3}$ M with Vmax of $319.4{\mu}moles/mg$ min. The kinetics of inhibition with partially purified rumen urease was investigated. The result showed that the inhibitory effect was not eliminated by increasing urea concentrations indicating a noncompetitive effect in nature with an inhibition constant $1.2{\times}10^{-5}$ M. Hydroquinone at the concentration of 10 ppm produced 64% urease inhibition, did not affect ruminal total dehydrogenase and proteolytic enzyme (p>0.05), but increased cellulase activity by 28% (p<0.05) in vitro. These results indicated that hydroquinone was a effective inhibitor of rumen urease and could effectively delay urea hydrolysis without a negative effect. The inhibitor appeared to offer a potential to improve nitrogen utilization by ruminants fed diets containing urea.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.84-92
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• 1972

A mechanism for the ring formation of nickel phthalocyanine (Ni-Pc) has been proposed based on chemical kinetics. The effect of the catalyst on the rate was examined, and ammonium molybdate has been found to be the most effective. The reaction order of the ring formation was determined to be of the 1st order over all, with only the concentration of urea affecting the rate of the ring formation. All the results including thermodynamic parameters support a conclusion that the rate-determining step seems to be the enolization of the urea-catalyst transition complex, followed by fast decomposition of the tautomeric enolized urea into ammonia and isocyanic acid. These intermediates then reacted with the phthalic anhydride to form imino and diimino-phthalimide, which condense to form nickel phthalocyanine in the presence of the nickel cation.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.13 no.7
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• pp.922-928
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• 2000

The effects of animal species and supplements on rumen fluid characteristics, plasma urea-N (PUN) concentration, plasma urea-N pool size, urea-N degradation in the gut and urea-N net flux (urea-N synthesis rate) were studied in goats and sheep, with some minor differences detected. The animals were fed either chopped rice straw ad libitum+200 g soybean meal (SBM), or chopped rice straw ad libitum+190 g soybean meal+300 g sago meal (SBM+SM) for 14 days. The supplements were isonitrogenous (80 g crude protein/animal/d). [$^{14}C$]-urea was used as the marker for urea metabolism studies. Two animals from each species were fed either supplement in a cross-over design in two periods. The results showed that rumen pH was significantly (p<0.001) lower in animals fed SBM+SM than those fed SBM supplement. The ammonia concentrations of rumen fluid were significantly (p<0.01) higher in sheep (382.9 mg N/L) than goats (363.1 mg N/L) when fed SBM supplement but lower (282.5 mg N/L) than that of goats (311.0 mg N/L) when fed SBM+SM supplement. Total VFA concentrations were significantly (p<0.05) higher in animals fed SBM+SM supplement than those fed SBM supplement. Goats had significantly (p<0.01) higher molar proportions of acetate (79.1, 77.7%, respectively) than sheep (75.8, 74.0%, respectively) in both supplements. The molar proportion of acetate was significantly (p<0.05) higher, while that of butyrate lower in animals fed SBM supplement than those fed SBM+SM supplement. In animals fed SBM supplement, the molar proportion of propionate was significantly (p<0.01) higher in sheep (18.0%) than in goats (15.6%), but in animals fed SBM+SM, the molar proportion of butyrate was significantly (p<0.01) higher (9.6%) in sheep than in goats (7.2%). Plasma urea-N concentration, plasma urea-N pool size, urea-N degradation in the gut, urea-N net flux and the fraction of urea-C from the blood entering the rumen were not significantly different between goats and sheep fed either supplement. However, PUN concentration was significantly (p<0.05) lower in animals fed SBM+SM supplement (average of 13.8 mg N/100 ml) than in those fed SBM supplement (average of 16.5 mg N/100 ml). The urea net flux was significantly (p<0.05) higher in goats (average of 14.5 g N/d) than sheep (average of 12.9 g N/d), and animals fed SBM supplement showed higher (average of 14.9 g N/d) urea net flux than animals fed SBM+SM supplement (average of 12.9 g N/d). A significant (p<0.05) positive correlation was observed between urea-N net flux and urea-N degradation; urea-N net flux and pool size; urea-N net flux and urea excretion in the urine; and PUN and rumen ammonia in goats. While in sheep, significant (p<0.05) positive correlation was observed between urea-N net flux and urea excretion in the urine; and PUN and rumen ammonia.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.221-228
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• 2019

This study reports the performance of urea-formaldehyde (UF) resins prepared at two different low formaldehyde/urea (F/U) mole ratios with different numbers of urea addition during synthesis. The second or third urea was added during the synthesis of UF resins to obtain two different low molar ratios of 0.7 and 1.0, respectively. The molecular weights, cure kinetics, and adhesion performance of these resins were characterized by the gel permeation chromatography, differential scanning calorimetry, and tensile shear strength of plywood, respectively. When the number of urea additions and F/U molar ratio increased, the gelation time decreased, whereas the viscosity and molecular weight increased. Further, the UF resins prepared with the second urea and 1.0 molar ratio resulted in greater activation energy than those with third urea and 0.7 molar ratio. Tensile shear strength and formaldehyde emission (FE) of the plywood that bonded with these resins increased when the number of urea additions and molar ratio increased. These results suggest that the UF resins prepared with 0.7 molar ratio and third urea addition provide lower adhesion performance and FE than those resins with 1.0 mole ratio and the second urea addition.

• International Journal of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.307-313
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• 2019

In order to design efficient Urea Decomposition Chamber (UDC) for the Low Pressure (LP) Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) system, numerical simulations were conducted with respect to various design parameters. The design parameters examined in this simulation include the chamber diameter, inlet and outlet shape of chamber, and urea injection point. Reaction kinetics for the urea decomposition was proposed and validated with the experimental data in the range of $300{\sim}450^{\circ}C$. The effects of design parameters on the performance of UDC were evaluated by the calculated urea conversion and pressure drop. As a result, the local optimum design values were derived by the parametric study.