In the development of green technologies and devices, renewable, biocompatible and biodegradable materials must be designed and implemented while ensuring limited harsh byproducts synthesis or lifetime toxic decay. An ideal approach to meeting these standards consist of the implementation of green processes based on biocatalysis. The types of biocatalysts are either isolated enzymes, immobilized enzymes or whole-cell catalysts. In industrial processes, immobilization for instance was shown to improve the stability and recoverability of the enzyme, that led to increased reusability and cost effectiveness of the overall process when enzyme implementation was considered. Studies also showed that the increased ease of catalyst separation from product reduced product contamination and downstream separation complexity. Our lab has exploits a variety of approaches to control enzyme activity at interfaces in order to implement new and improved strategies that could allow for rational designed reaction sequences to lead to the optimal enzymatic routes for high product yields, all under energy efficient pathways. Specifically, an overview of immobilization methods and common results is presented followed by discussion of how implementation of these enzyme-based technologies improve adherence to the 12 principles of green chemistry. A strong focus on the carbon-based nanomaterials is encountered due to their unique properties (e.g., surface curvature, optical adsorptivity, controllable aspect ratios etc .). Optimization of the immobilization strategy and the choice of a suitable nanosupport are tailored for optimal performance of enzyme-nanomaterial conjugates when implementation is assessed.

Biocatalysts immobilized onto nanosupports: Applications and advantages in green technologies

254th National Meeting (2017)

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