The occurrence of organic wastewater contaminants in municipal drinking water is concerning for public health. Endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) can persist at low concentrations in drinking water sources downstream of wastewater treatment. The ability of horseradish peroxidase (HRP) to degrade phenolic compounds including BPA and other estrogenic compounds has been demonstrated by several groups. Treatment of BPA and other endocrine disrupting compounds results in products with reduced estrogenic toxicity and solubility and may allow for the removal of BPA from drinking water. The encapsulation of HRP in sol-gel derived silica offers a way to immobilize the enzyme within a bed for water treatment. Entrapment is hypothesized to maintain catalytic activity in varying water conditions by stabilizing the peroxidase and physically prevent microbial degradation. HRP has been successfully entrapped in four varieties of organically modified silica (OMS) gel while retaining enzyme activity. The apparent enzyme activity was measured as a function of porosity in OMS. Porosity was varied by changing the sol gel precursors which included bis(trimethoxysilylethyl)benzene dimethyldimethoxysilane, methyltriethoxysilane, and bis-1,2-trimethoxyethane. Entrapped enzyme stability when exposed to denaturants and microbe-rich surface water was assessed.

Entrapment of peroxidase in porous silica particles for enzymatic degradation of drinking water contaminants

251st National Meeting (2016)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.