Hemoglobin Immobilized With Silica-based Mesoporous Materials For The Catalytic Removal Of Phenol

Blood is a waste product of the slaughter industry, while its main componenthemoglobin (Hb) is a pseudo-peroxidase which is able to oxidize polycyclic aromatichydrocarbons (PAHs) in the presence of H2O2. In order to use Hb for wastewatertreatment, we encapsulated it in silica-based matrix by “fish-in-net” approach. Theas-synthesized catalysts were characterized by SEM, TEM,STEM,BET andsolid-state UV-Vis spectroscopy. It was found that Hb was partially homogeneouslydispersed in microspheres and showed more stable peroxidase-like activity than freeHb. Moreover, it had substantially increased storage stability. It was used asbiocatalyst to remove phenol in aqueous solution and gave a reduction of60%phenolremoval, while phenol removal increased in the presence of additive PEG.When themolar ratio of H2O2and phenol is1.5, the phenol removal reached the maxiumremoval efficiency. Considering the utilization efficiency,40U was the optimalimmobilized enzyme dose for maximum phenol removal at specified experimentalconditions.No significant activity loss was observed after six runs. Theseexperimental results suggest that the resultant product was a promising biocatalyst foraromatic wastewater treatment.