Development of an integrated enzymatic treatment system for phenolic waste streams

An integrated enzymatic treatment system, which includes Coprinus cinereus peroxidase (CIP) production, processing, and usage in batch or plug flow reactors, is being developed to remove phenolic compounds from the aqueous waste streams. CIP production at bench scale yielded a maximum growth medium activity of approximately 60 U CIP ml(-1). A CIP enzyme solution was prepared for use in treatment by successive filtration steps. This yielded a 4.5-fold increase in enzyme activity, with 87% enzyme activity recovery, and 83% reduction in the solution's Chemical Oxygen Demand. The purity of CIP was observed to have no effect on the ability of the enzyme to remove phenol from the aqueous solutions within the range of enzyme solution purities tested. Contrary to observations reported for phenol removal from buffered solutions, the addition of polyethylene glycol to non-buffered reaction solutions had no positive effect on the phenol removal accomplished at pH 7 in these experiments. The efficiency of enzyme use in a plug flow reactor was improved by step additions of CIP and H2O2.