• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.316-321
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• 1994

Several strains capable of degrading PEGs(Polyethylene Glycols) were isolated and investigated for their biodegradation ability of PEGs. Microorganisms screened for the biodegrada- tion studies were those grown on the PEG used as a sole carbon and energy source. It was known that the number of microorganisms decreased when grown on the high molecular weight of PEG. A biodegradation of PEG was investigated with such microorganisms in the reactor and resulted in the decrease in PEG concentration meaning that PEG was degraded in the reactor. This microorganism was identified as Flavobacterium sp. The biodegradability was found to be about 18.8% for PEG-8000 and 25.4% for PEG-10,000, respectively. For the manufacture of biodeg- radable PEG film, EMAA/PEG and EAA/PEG blending ability was investigated with IR spectrum and showed that it was possible to produce blending film.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.502-506
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• 2009

The removal properties of Polyethylene glycols (PEGs) known as the important group of synthetic polymers of ethylene oxide were examined by the bio-reactor equipped with a mesh filter module. PEG-1000 and PEG-2000 were fairly removed on the basis of TOC, which were 75.1% and 51.6%, respectively. In the case of PEG-20000, the removal efficiency of TOC was less than 15.2% and the favorable acclimation of microbes was not obtained. It was suggested that this system could effectively maintain microbes for the biodegradation of low molecular weight of PEG and TOC removal was significantly influenced by PEG molecular weight.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.33 no.7
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• pp.1224-1229
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• 2004

The blend films of poly(3-hydroxybutyric acid) (PHB) with chitosan were prepared and water vapor transmission rate, oxygen permeability and lipid permeability of the PHB/chitosan films were measured. Additionally, the biodegradability of the PHB/chitosan films was also evaluated. Water vapor transmission rate and oxygen permeability of the films decreased by the addition of chitosan. The addition of polyethylene glycol (PEG, plasticizer), however, increased the water vapor transmission rate and oxygen permeability of the films. In the evaluation of lipid permeability, all the films except PHB (the film made of only PHB) and PHB-P (the film made of PHB and PEG) did not permeate beef tallow for 24 hours. The consumed oxygen for PHB/chitosan films during incubation was greater than that for the control on the biodegradability determination of the films, which implies that PHB/chitosan films were degraded by the microorganisms. The higher PHB ratio of the films was, the faster biodegradation of the films occurred.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.501-505
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• 2007

Organophosphorus hydrolase (OPH) expressed from recombinant Escherichia coli was used to biodegrade organophosphate insecticide coumaphos which has a very high toxicity in mammalian cells. To improve the productivity of OPH, the effects of nonionic surfactants (Tween 20, PEG 1000) and organic solvents, such as glycerol, propanol, and ethanol, were investigated in the strain culture. The maximum OPH was produced when the 0.25% of Tween 20 and 0.5% of glycerol were added to the medium. As the OPH obtained from disrupt-cell process by ultrasound treatment was used, the biodegradation efficiencies of 0.2, 0.5, 1.0 and 2.0 mM coumaphos were 100, 88, 84 and 78%, respectively. A novel method developed in this study could be applied to the biodetoxification technology in the contaminated region with various coumaphos concentration.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.467-475
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• 2001

A triblock copolymer based on $poly(\varepsilon-caprolactone)$ (PCL) as the hydrophobic part and poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) as the hydrophilic portion was synthesized by a ring-opening mechanism of ${\varepsilon}-caprolactone$ with PEG containing a hydroxyl group at bot h ends as an initiator. The synthesized block copolymers of PCL/PEG/PCL (CEC) were confirmed and characterized using various analysis equipment such as 1H NMR, DSC, FT-IR, and WAXD. Core-shell type nanoparticles of CEC triblock copolymers were prepared using a dialysis technique to estimate their potential as a colloidal drug carrier using a hydrophobic drug. From the results of particle size analysis and transmission electron microscopy, the particle size of CEC core-shell type nanoparticles was determined to be about 20-60 nm with a spherical shape. Since CEC block copolymer nanoparticles have a core-shell type micellar structure and small particle size similar to polymeric micelles, CEC block copolymer can self-associate at certain concentrations and the critical association concentration (CAC) was able to be determined by fluorescence probe techniques. The CAC values of the CEC block copolymers were dependent on the PCL block length. In addition, drug loading contents were dependent on the PCL block length: the larger the PCL block length, the higher the drug loading content. Drug release from CEC core-shell type nanoparticles showed an initial burst release for the first 12 hrs followed by pseudo-zero order release kinetics for 2 or 3 days. CEC-2 block copolymer core-shell type nanoparticles were degraded very slowly, suggesting that the drug release kinetics were governed by a diffusion mechanism rather than a degradation mechanism irrelevant to the CEC block copolymer composition.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.259-266
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• 2000

Spheroplast cell fusions were performed with Flavimonas oryzihabitans degrading aniline and Pseudomonas sp. degrading 4-chlorobiphenyl to develope the new fusant degrading aniline and 4-CBP and its characters were investigated. F. oryzihabitans was induced to antibiotic marker ($Cm^r$ by NTG treatment for the fusants selection. The results of spheroplast formation and regeneration frequencies of the strains treated with lysozyme-EDTA were 99% and 5.0~6.6%, respectively. Fusion products were treated with 40% (v/v) PEG 6000 and fusion frequency was $3.16{\times}10^{-4} $. The DNA content of fusant, F22 was approximately 2-fold compared with parents. The fusant was stable, and showed the mixed biochemical characteristics of the parent strains. F22 was similar to parent for cell growth pattern and degrading capacity on 5 mM aniline but cell growth rate of F22 was 1.5-fold higher than that of the parent on 10mM aniline. However 4-CBP degrading ability of F22 was slightly lower than that of parental strain.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.469-476
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• 2009

In this study, biodegradable superporous hydrogels(SPHs) with fast swelling and superabsorbent properties were prepared using biodegradable crosslinkers and their physicochemical properties were characterized. A biodegradable crosslinker (PLA-PEG-PLA DA) was synthesized by a ring opening polymerization of D,L-lactide (LA) using hydrophilic poly(ethylene glycol) as a macroinitiator, followed by diacrylation of the end groups for the introduction of polymerizable vinyl groups. Various kinds of hydrogels with different chemical compositions were prepared and characterized in terms of swelling ratio, swelling kinetics, and biodegradation properties. The synthetic results were confirmed by $^1H$-NMR, FT-IR and GPC measurements, and the porous structures of the prepared SPHs and their porosities were identified by a scanning electron microscope and mercury porosimetry, respectively. The physicochemical properties of SPHs could be controlled by varying their chemical compositions and their cytotoxicity were found to be very low by MTT assay.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.27 no.9
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• pp.917-922
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• 2005

The wastewaters from textile and dyeing industries are difficult to treat due to its high pH, temperature, color intensity and non-biodegradable organic contents. This study investigated the removal of recalcitrant organics in a dyeing wastewater by using a packed bed reactor (PBR) that contained cell-immobilized pellets. The feed, obtained from an effluent of a biological treatment plant, had $SCOD_{Cr}$ of 330 mg/L and $SBOD_5$ of 20 mg/L on average. In immobilizing the cells to a Polyethylene Glycol(PEG) based medium, activated sludges from either a sewage treatment plant or an industrial wastewater treatment plant were used. When the empty bed contact time (EBCT) was above 8 hrs in the PBR, the $COD_{Cr}$ removal efficiency was over 50% and the $COD_{Mn}$ concentration was 72 mg/L or lower on average, which was substantially lower than the discharge standard of 90 mg/L. The results indicated that the optimum EBCT in the PBR was 8 hrs. The PBR with cell-immobilized pellets was effective as an advanced treatment process after an activated sludge process for treating dyeing wastewaters.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.17 no.12
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• pp.1343-1351
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• 2008

The activated sludge obtained from wastewater coke oven plant was immobilized by entrapment with polyethylene glycol (PEG). The effects of several factors on the biodegradation of $CN^-$ from. synthetic wastewater were investigated using batch and continuous reactors. The degradation rate of $CN^-$ increased with increasing of the immobilized bead volume in the reactor. Approximately 7.65mg/L of $NH_4-N$ was produced upon the degradation of 35mg/L of $CN^-$. When high concentrations of the toxic cyanide complex were used in the testing of cyanide degradation, the free activated sludge could be inhibited more than that of the immobilized activated sludge. When the phenol concentration was higher than 400mg/L in the synthetic wastewater, approximately 98.4% of $CN^-$ was removed within 42 hours by the immobilized activated sludge. However, the cyanide was not completely degraded by the tree activated sludge. This indicates that high phenol concentrations can act as a toxic factor for the free activated sludge. A $CN^-$ concentration of less than 1mg/L was achieved by the immobilized sludge at the loading rate of 0.025kg $CN^-/m^3-d$. Moreover, it was found that the HRT should be kept for 48 hours in order to obtain stable treatment conditions.