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 Km 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.