Ten Essential Oils for Beech Wood Protection - Efficacy Against Wood-destroying Fungi and Moulds, and Effect on Wood Discoloration
This work analyses the anti-fungal efficacy and stability of 10 essential oils, as well as their colour stability, in wood. The efficacy of oils against the decay fungi Coniophora puteana and Trametes versicolor as well as the moulds Aspergillus niger and Penicillium brevicompactum was evaluated first on filter papers treated with 1, 3.5, 10%, or 100% concentrate, and then on beech wood treated with 10% solutions. Accelerated ageing of treated beech samples was done before mycological tests and consisted of heating, leaching followed by heating, and Xenotest followed by heating. The highest growth inhibition of moulds and C. puteana was caused by thyme, oregano, sweet flag, and clove oils, while the savory and birch oils were less effective. These oils are potentially useful for wood protection against brown-rot fungi and moulds, mostly in interior conditions. The essential oils had only a negligible effect against the white-rot fungus T. versicolor, which was more apparent after previous ageing of wood. Some essential oils with a yellow tone (birch, oregano, sweet flag, savory, and tea tree oils) significantly changed (p<0.05) the natural colour of beech wood, but the new colours were relatively stable and underwent only mild changes after accelerated ageing in Xenotest.
Immobilization of laccase onto poly(glycidylmethacrylate) brush grafted poly(hydroxyethylmethacrylate) films: Enzymatic oxidation of phenolic compounds
Abstract Poly(hydroxyethylmethacrylate), p(HEMA) films were prepared via UV-initiated photo-polymerization. After activation of the hydroxyl groups of p(HEMA) by bromination, surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) of glycidylmethacrylate was conducted in dioxane/bipyridine mixture with CuBr as catalyst at 65 °C. The epoxy groups of the poly(glycidylmethacrylate) brushes were converted into amino groups with the reaction of ammonia. The modified p(HEMA-g-GMA)-NH2 films were used as an ion-exchange support for the immobilization of laccase. The influence of pH and initial laccase concentration on the immobilization capacity of the p(HEMA-g-GMA)-NH2 films has been investigated. The amount of immobilized laccase on the p(HEMA-g-GMA)-NH2 films was determined as 139 μg/cm2 films. The recovered activity of the immobilized laccase on the fibrous polymer grafted films was about 71% compared to free enzyme. The maximum activity (Vmax) and Michealis constant (Km) of laccase immobilized on the films, were found to be 15.4 U/mg and 23 mM, respectively. Finally, the immobilized laccase was operated in a batch system for enzymatic oxidation of phenol, p-chlorophenol and aniline.
Enzymatic removal of phenol and p-chlorophenol in enzyme reactor: horseradish peroxidase immobilized on magnetic beads.
Horseradish peroxidase was immobilized on the magnetic poly(glycidylmethacrylate-co-methylmethacrylate) (poly(GMA-MMA)), via covalent bonding and used for the treatment of phenolic wastewater in continuous systems. For this purposes, horseradish peroxidase (HRP) was covalently immobilized onto magnetic poly(GMA-MMA) beds using glutaraldehyde (GA) as a coupling agent. The maximum HRP immobilization capacity of the magnetic poly(GMA-MMA)-GA beads was 3.35 mg g(-1). The immobilized HRP retained 79% of the activity of the free HRP used for immobilization. The immobilized HRP was used for the removal of phenol and p-chlorophenol via polymerization of dissolved phenols in the presence of hydrogen peroxide (H(2)O(2)). The effect of pH and temperature on the phenol oxidation rate was investigated. The results were compared with the free HRP, which showed that the optimum pH value for the immobilized HRP is similar to that for the free HRP. The optimum pH value for free and immobilized HRP was observed at pH 7.0. The optimum temperature for phenols oxidation with immobilized HRP was between 25 and 35 degrees C and the immobilized HRP has more resistance to temperature inactivation than that of the free form. Finally, the immobilized HRP was operated in a magnetically stabilized fluidized bed reactor, and phenols were successfully removed in the enzyme reactor.