Use of Different Plant Derived Peroxidases for the Removal of Phenol from Water

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate alternative vegetal enzymatic phenol removal systems and to compare the strength of the determined enzymes in terms of removal phenol. In addition, the utilization of these enzymes in industry is discussed. For this purpose, some form of vegetal milk that enables the enzymes to be protected in a safe matrix is used. Peroxidase enzymes from Ficus caricas, Ficus elasticas and maize milk are partially purified 11.33, 12.92 and 8.11 fold, respectively, by the ammonium sulfate precipitation technique. The purified maize milk peroxidase removed all the phenol residues present in the water and Ficus caricas and Ficus elasticas removed 95.53 and 98.21 % of the phenol, respectively. As a result of this investigation, it is seen that peroxide based enzymes in vegetal milk matrix of Ficus caricas, Ficus elasticas and maize plants successfully remove phenol from water. The phenol removal effectiveness of maize is higher than that of ficus caricas and ficus elasticas peroxidases. The results of the analyses indicate that the use of peroxidases may find themselves a suitable area of application in the removal of phenol from water.