Biomaterial Database

Anaerobic desulfurization of ground rubber with the thermophilic archaeon Pyrococcus furiosus--a new method for rubber recycling. 2001

K Bredberg, and J Persson, and M Christiansson, and B Stenberg, and O Holst

Department of Biotechnology, Center for Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Lund University, Sweden. katarina.bredberg@biotek.lu.se

The anaerobic sulfur-reducing archaeon Pyrococcus furiosus was investigated regarding its capacity to desulfurize rubber material. The microorganism's sensitivity towards common rubber elastomers and additives was tested and several were shown to be toxic to P. furiosus. The microorganism was shown to utilize sulfur in vulcanized natural rubber and an increase in cell density was obtained when cultivated in the presence of spent tire rubber. Ethanol-leached cryo-ground tire rubber treated with P. furiosus for 10 days was vulcanized together with virgin rubber material (15% w/w) and the mechanical properties of the resulting material were determined. The increase in the stress at break value and the decrease in swell ratio and stress relaxation rate obtained for material containing microbially treated rubber (compared to untreated material) show the positive effects of microbial desulfurization on rubber.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D007220	Industrial Waste	Worthless, damaged, defective, superfluous or effluent material from industrial operations.	Waste, Industrial,Industrial Wastes,Wastes, Industrial
D012037	Refuse Disposal	The discarding or destroying of garbage, sewage, or other waste matter or its transformation into something useful or innocuous.	Waste Disposal, Solid,Disposal, Refuse,Disposal, Solid Waste,Disposals, Refuse,Disposals, Solid Waste,Refuse Disposals,Solid Waste Disposal,Solid Waste Disposals,Waste Disposals, Solid
D001709	Biotechnology	Body of knowledge related to the use of organisms, cells or cell-derived constituents for the purpose of developing products which are technically, scientifically and clinically useful. Alteration of biologic function at the molecular level (i.e., GENETIC ENGINEERING) is a central focus; laboratory methods used include TRANSFECTION and CLONING technologies, sequence and structure analysis algorithms, computer databases, and gene and protein structure function analysis and prediction.	Biotechnologies
D012408	Rubber	A high-molecular-weight polymeric elastomer derived from the milk juice (LATEX) of HEVEA brasiliensis and other trees and plants. It is a substance that can be stretched at room temperature to at least twice its original length and after releasing the stress, retract rapidly, and recover its original dimensions fully.	Latex Rubber,Elastica,India Rubber,Natural Rubber,Plant Rubber,Vulcanite,Natural Rubbers,Plant Rubbers,Rubber, Natural,Rubber, Plant,Rubbers, Natural,Rubbers, Plant
D013455	Sulfur	An element that is a member of the chalcogen family. It has an atomic symbol S, atomic number 16, and atomic weight [32.059; 32.076]. It is found in the amino acids cysteine and methionine.	Sulfur-16,Sulfur 16
D020027	Pyrococcus furiosus	A species of strictly anaerobic, hyperthermophilic archaea which lives in geothermally-heated marine sediments. It exhibits heterotropic growth by fermentation or sulfur respiration.