Horseradish peroxidase immobilised onto electrospun fibres and its application in decolourisation of dyes from model sea water

Despite many studies concerning dyes decolourisation, we propose a novel, cheap, eco-friendly and sustainable solution for highly effective dyes removal based on electrospun materials and immobilised enzyme. Our study provides proof-of-concept for the immobilisation of horseradish peroxidase (HRP) on polyamide 6 electrospun fibres by adsorption and covalent binding, and application for dyes decolourisation from imitating polluted sea waters. The highest relative activity of immobilised HRP was obtained after immobilisation performed at 50 °C and pH 7 for 60 min for adsorption method, as well as using 3% of glutaraldehyde concentration, 70 min of process time, 60 °C and pH 7 for covalent binding. Biocatalytic systems produced were found to possess high catalytic properties and were used for decolourisation of Reactive Black 5 and Malachite Green textile dyes from solutions imitating polluted sea waters, that is a novel approach for removal of pollutants from aqueous solutions. The highest decolourisation efficiencies of dyes were obtained after 60 min of treatment at pH 7 and temperature 25 °C and reached over 70%. In the future, the presented approach based on use of enzymes immobilised in decolourisation processes, might play significant role in industrial removal of dyes.