USE OF ENZYME TECHNOLOGY FOR THE DEGRADATION OF HARMFUL XENOBIOTICS (AROMATIC DYE)

The basic objective of the present investigation is to study the enzymatic pre-treatment as alternative physicochemical methods, for enhancing the biodegradability of aromatic dye compounds and was found to be more effective (Alexander et al., 1997). Horseradish peroxidase was extracted and studies for azo degradation at batch scale. The batch studies performed to study the process parameters during azo dye degradation revealed, effect of repeated application of alginate immobilized enzyme on dye degradation as 52%removal of dye in first batch which was reduced to 22.2%in the fifth batch .Where as acrylamide Gel immobilized HRP degraded 80%in first batch which was reduced to 15%in the fifth batch .Based upon the results the studies were further conformed to optimize the immobilized enzyme procedure. There was an increase in percent degradation of dye with increase in temperature as 4oc showed 47.7% degradation & 24oshowed 72.2% increased degradation , similarly at acidic pH of 2 approximately 77.7% degradation was observed & at basic pH 8.9 it was 50.5%.Two types of immobilizing materials, alginate & acrylamide gel used for immobilizing the enzyme. Immobilized beads showed effective degradation rates compared with free enzyme. Repeated application of beads showed consistently reduced activity. By comparing gel immobilized matrix is effective in degradation than at alginate. Key words: Alginate, Acrylamide Gel, immobilization, horseradish peroxidase