Authors: Garima Mathur Ramasare Prasad
Publish Date: 2012/02/26
Volume: 167, Issue: 6, Pages: 1595-1602
Abstract
The present study deals with the isolation of fungi from soil with the ability to degrade polyurethane PU A pure fungal isolate was analyzed for its ability to utilize PU as a sole carbon source in shaking culture for 30 days Incubation of PU with Aspergillus flavus resulted in 606 reduction in weight of PU The scanning electron microscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy FTIR results showed certain changes on the surface of PU film and formation of some new intermediate products after polymer breakdown Thermogravimetric curves showed changes between the thermal behavior of the samples that were inoculated with A flavus and control FTIR spectra showed detectable changes in control and incubated samples suggesting that degradation occurs with the decreased intensity of band at 1715 cm−1 corresponding to ester linkages We have identified an extracellular esterase activity which might be responsible for the polyurethanolytic activity
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