Degradation of Polyurethane by Aspergillus flavus (ITCC 6051) Isolated from Soil

Mathur, Garima; Prasad, Ramasare

doi:10.1007/s12010-012-9572-4

Cited by 87 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…The high increment in esterase activity observed at 7 days of culture, and the fact that it still remains active after 14 days, suggest that it might be responsible for the attack on ester and urethane groups in the PU, as observed by FTIR and GC-MS analysis. Several fungi displaying esterase activity suggested to be responsible for PS-PU biodegradation were previously reported (12,35). Although urease activity has been suggested to participate in PU biodegradation (15,20), it seems not to have a relevant role in Impranil biodegradation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This material, however, is more recalcitrant to fungal attack than PS-PU (17). Although several works have documented the degradation of solid PS-PU by fungi (9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)17), scarce research on solid PE-PU biodegradation has been carried out. Early work reported that PE-PU foams were unaffected by Aspergillus niger and Cladosporium herbarum growth (18).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Biodegradative Activities of Selected Environmental Fungi on a Polyester Polyurethane Varnish and Polyether Polyurethane Foams

Álvarez-Barragán

Domínguez-Malfavón

Vargas-Suárez

et al. 2016

Appl Environ Microbiol

209

111

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Polyurethane (PU) is widely used in many aspects of modern life because of its versatility and resistance. However, PU waste disposal generates large problems, since it is slowly degraded, there are limited recycling processes, and its destruction may generate toxic compounds. In this work, we isolated fungal strains able to grow in mineral medium with a polyester PU (PS-PU; Impranil DLN) or a polyether PU (PE-PU; Poly Lack) varnish as the only carbon source. Of the eight best Impranil-degrading strains, the six best degraders belonged to the Cladosporium cladosporioides complex, including the species C. pseudocladosporioides, C. tenuissimum, C. asperulatum, and C. montecillanum, and the two others were identified as Aspergillus fumigatus and Penicillium chrysogenum. The best Impranil degrader, C. pseudocladosporioides strain T1.PL.1, degraded up to 87% after 14 days of incubation. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy analysis of Impranil degradation by this strain showed a loss of carbonyl groups (1,729 cm ؊1 ) and NOH bonds (1,540 and 1,261 cm ؊1 ), and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis showed a decrease in ester compounds and increase in alcohols and hexane diisocyanate, indicating the hydrolysis of ester and urethane bonds. Extracellular esterase and low urease, but not protease activities were detected at 7 and 14 days of culture in Impranil. The best eight Impranil-degrading fungi were also able to degrade solid foams of the highly recalcitrant PE-PU type to different extents, with the highest levels generating up to 65% of dry-weight losses not previously reported. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis of fungus-treated foams showed melted and thinner cell wall structures than the non-fungus-treated ones, demonstrating fungal biodegradative action on PE-PU. IMPORTANCEPolyurethane waste disposal has become a serious problem. In this work, fungal strains able to efficiently degrade different types of polyurethanes are reported, and their biodegradative activity was studied by different experimental approaches. Varnish biodegradation analyses showed that fungi were able to break down the polymer in some of their precursors, offering the possibility that they may be recovered and used for new polyurethane synthesis. Also, the levels of degradation of solid polyether polyurethane foams reported in this work have never been observed previously. Isolation of efficient polyurethane-degrading microorganisms and delving into the mechanisms they used to degrade the polymer provide the basis for the development of biotechnological processes for polyurethane biodegradation and recycling. P olyurethane (PU), one of the most versatile polymers invented by humans, is synthesized from a wide variety of precursors generating almost infinite types of materials, from elastomers and varnishes to highly resistant components, such as automotive parts, foams, semirigid plastics, and textile fibers. Due to their versatility, PUs are widely used in different human activities as a substit...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Biodegradative Activities of Selected Environmental Fungi on a Polyester Polyurethane Varnish and Polyether Polyurethane Foams

Álvarez-Barragán

Domínguez-Malfavón

Vargas-Suárez

et al. 2016

Appl Environ Microbiol

209

111

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“…Sin embargo, en años recientes la investigación se ha centrado en el uso de hongos. [15][16][17][18][19] Algunas de las enzimas fúngicas descritas en la década de 1980 fueron dos esterasas de Aspergillus terreus y las actividades atribuidas a ellas fueron endo y exo poliuretanesterasa. Así que considerando que los hongos sólo son capaces de usar fuentes de carbono orgánicas, el poliuretano puede ser empleado como una fuente potencial de carbono para el crecimiento fúngico.…”

Section: 10unclassified

Fungal biodegradation of rigid polyurethane

et al. 2017

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FUNGAL BIODEGRADATION OF RIGID POLYURETHANE. Polyurethane (PU) is one of the most widely used polymer materials. This generates a serious environmental problem because of its poor biodegradability since most of the native microorganisms cannot use it as a source of nutrients. Several techniques involving mechanical and chemical processes have been used for its recovery and reuse; however, the problem of contamination has not been solved, and recently research has focused on developing strategies that use different microorganisms for the biodegradation of PU. In this work, the biodegradation and enzymatic capacity of three fungal strains were evaluated. Thermogravimetric and infrared spectrophotometry analyzes were used to evaluate the ability of the three fungal strains to biodegrade PU and also their enzymatic activities were studied. It was found that a strain of Trichoderma was able to modify the PU structure enough that the changes were detected by both TGA and FTIR. These changes can be caused by urease activity that breaks down carbon-nitrogen bonds in the structure because the signals suggesting the formation of carboxylic acids and decreasing corresponding to carbon-nitrogen bonds of the urethane bond are increased.Keywords: polyurethane; biodegradation; filamentous fungi. INTRODUCCIONEn el mundo, los polímeros son los principales responsables del deterioro del medio ambiente.1 Dentro de estos, los poliuretanos (PU) son ampliamente usados como materia prima en diversas industrias, desde muebles y automóviles, a aislamientos térmicos de barcos y materiales médicos.2 Son sintetizados a partir de polioles y poliisocianatos y se caracterizan por ser insolubles en agua.3 El problema principal radica en su acumulación y no biodegradación por parte de los microorganismos existentes, que no cuentan con estrategias de biodegradación contra esta estructura polimérica. 4 Cada año, más de 5 millones de toneladas de residuos que contienen diferentes plásticos y espumas de PU son generados en los Estados Unidos y Canadá, 3 por lo que la degradación del PU y el descubrimiento de microorganismos capaces de aprovecharlo como fuerte de carbono o nitrógeno, se ha convertido en un pilar dentro de la investigación científica hacia una química más verde. 5Los polímeros pueden ser sustratos potenciales para microorganismos quimioheterotrofos.6 Se han aislado tanto bacterias como hongos filamentosos capaces de degradar PU.7 Los géneros de hongos encontrados han sido Geomyces pannorum y Nectria sp, principalmente, además de Cylindrocladiella parva, Penicillium inflatum, Plectosphaerella cucumerin y P. inflatum, Alternaria, Penicillium venetum, Neonectria ramulariae y Penicillium viridicatum. Los poliurteanos están conformados por regiones C-C, C-N y C-O y poseen un enlace característico, el enlace uretano, similar al enlace peptídico y a la urea. La principal funcion del enlace uretano es unir cadenas orgánicas de polioles y poliisocianatos, para formar la unidad polimérica del poliuretano, la cual diferencia a cada poliuretano ...

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“…Tensile strength is defined as the load at break divided by the original cross-sectional area. A number of studies have analyzed the rate of degradation of PU by analyzing loss in tensile strength, as it is a sensitive measure of polymer integrity (15)(16)(17)(18)(35)(36)(37)(38). Umare and Chandre (39) studied the degradation of polyester PU under three different treatments, alkaline hydrolysis, enzymatic hydrolysis, and soil burial, and reported that soil burial gave the greatest level of degradation.…”

Section: Figmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Previously, fungi have been shown to be the dominant microorganisms involved in the biodegradation of polyester PU when buried in soil (15)(16)(17), and a number of fungal species that are capable of degrading PU have been isolated and identified (7,(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20). In this study, we investigated the potential of the composting process to deteriorate PU by comparing the rate of biodegradation when buried in compost at different temperatures representing the mesophilic and thermophilic stages.…”

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confidence: 99%

Fungal Communities Associated with the Biodegradation of Polyester Polyurethane Buried under Compost at Different Temperatures

Zafar

Houlden

Robson

2013

Appl Environ Microbiol

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Plastics play an essential role in the modern world due to their low cost and durability. However, accumulation of plastic waste in the environment causes wide-scale pollution with long-lasting effects, making plastic waste management expensive and problematic. Polyurethanes (PUs) are heteropolymers that made up ca. 7% of the total plastic production in Europe in 2011. Polyester PUs in particular have been extensively reported as susceptible to microbial biodegradation in the environment, particularly by fungi. In this study, we investigated the impact of composting on PUs, as composting is a microbially rich process that is increasingly being used for the processing of green waste and food waste as an economically viable alternative to landfill disposal. PU coupons were incubated for 12 weeks in fresh compost at 25°C, 45°C, and 50°C to emulate the thermophilic and maturation stages of the composting process. Incubation at all temperatures caused significant physical deterioration of the polyester PU coupons and was associated with extensive fungal colonization. Terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (TRFLP) analysis and pyrosequencing of the fungal communities on the PU surface and in the surrounding compost revealed that the population on the surface of PU was different from the surrounding compost community, suggesting enrichment and selection. The most dominant fungi identified from the surfaces of PU coupons by pyrosequencing was Fusarium solani at 25°C, while at both 45°C and 50°C, Candida ethanolica was the dominant species. The results of this preliminary study suggest that the composting process has the potential to biodegrade PU waste if optimized further in the future.

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Degradation of Polyurethane by Aspergillus flavus (ITCC 6051) Isolated from Soil

Cited by 87 publications

References 23 publications

Biodegradative Activities of Selected Environmental Fungi on a Polyester Polyurethane Varnish and Polyether Polyurethane Foams

Biodegradative Activities of Selected Environmental Fungi on a Polyester Polyurethane Varnish and Polyether Polyurethane Foams

Fungal biodegradation of rigid polyurethane

Fungal Communities Associated with the Biodegradation of Polyester Polyurethane Buried under Compost at Different Temperatures

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