Immobilization of polyphenol oxidase on chitosan-SiO2 gel for removal of aqueous phenol

A partially purified potato polyphenol oxidase (PPO) was immobilized in a cross-linked chitosan-SiO2 gel and used to treat phenol solutions. Under optimized conditions (formaldehyde 20 mg/ml, PPO 4 mg/ml and pH 7.0), the activity of immobilized PPO was 1370 U/g and its K (m) value for catechol was 12 mM at 25 degrees C. The highest activity of immobilized enzyme was at pH 7.4. Immobilization stabilized the enzyme with 73 and 58% retention of activity after 10 and 20 days, respectively, at 30 degrees C whereas most of the free enzyme was inactive after 7 days. The efficiency of removing phenol (10 mg phenol/l) by the immobilized PPO was 86%, and about 60% removal efficiency was retained after five recycles. The immobilized PPO may thus be a useful for removing phenolic compounds from industrial waste-waters.