Production of enzymes for industrial wastewater treatment – Proof of concept and application to the textile dye industry

Abstract

A previous Water Research Commission Project (WRC Report No: 1170/1/04) into the enzymology of solubilisation of municipal sewage sludge (Rhodes University BioSURE Process®) identified the involvement of a plethora of hydrolase enzymes such as phosphatases. sulphatases. proteases. Upases, endoglucanascs and glucosidases (Pletschke et al., 2004; Whiteley et al.. 2002; Enongene. et al. 2003; Ngesi. et al. 2002) isolated from a biosuiphidogenic reactor. Furthermore it was found that these enzymes could be used, in situ, to bioremediate effluents from acid mine drainage, tanneries and abattoirs. It is the intention of the current research to exploit this idea further and undertake a thorough investigation to show that hydrogenase enzymes, also found within the biosuiphidogenic reactor, could be used to bioremediate industrial waste effluent from the textile dye industry. Azo dyes are the most commonly used colouring compounds (Pearce et al.. 2003) and they were therefore used in this study to investigate the ability of sulphate reducing bacteria (SRB) and associated cytoplasmic hydrogenase enzymes to degrade them under anaerobic conditions. Several advantages of using such a system are forthcoming