Fungal peroxidase production and use in wastewater treatment

过氧化物酶已被证明可以催化去除工业废水中常见的各种芳香族化合物。这些芳香族化合物中的大多数被归类为有毒化合物，一些是内分泌干扰化合物，还有一些是已知或疑似致癌物质。在使用常规处理方法无法始终如一地满足出水要求且成本效益高的情况下，酶法将有助于遵守越来越严格的排放标准。酶法可以单独应用，也可以与物理、化学和生物处理等传统处理方法结合使用。不幸的是，过氧化物酶容易从多种来源失活，因此必须持续提供给该过程。目前过氧化物酶的成本相对较高，因为它们是以高纯度的形式生产的，而且主要用于分析目的的产量相对较小。与辣根过氧化物酶(HRP)等细胞内酶相比，胞外酶需要的加工要少得多。这促使人们研究由真菌产生的细胞外过氧化物酶，如节霉菌过氧化物酶和鸡腿菇过氧化物酶(以及其他)。建议的研究将在分三个阶段：(1)利用低成本的生长介质，在序批式或连续流反应器中优化鸡腿菇属真菌生产过氧化物酶；(2)建立反应器设计和操作建议，以便通过收集的酶解液去除酚和内分泌干扰物；以及(3)评估使用选定的真菌作为生物处理方法来去除二级市政污水中的内分泌干扰物(EDC)。

Peroxidase enzymes have been shown to catalyze the removal of a wide range of aromatic compounds that commonly occur in industrial wastewater streams.  The majority of these aromatic compounds are classified as toxic, some are endocrine disrupting compounds, and some are known or suspected carcinogens.  The enzymatic process would facilitate compliance with increasingly stringent discharge standards in cases where effluent requirements cannot be met consistently and cost effectively using conventional treatment.  Enzymatic methods could be applied separately or in conjunction with conventional treatment methods such as physical, chemical, and biological processes. Unfortunately, peroxidase enzymes are susceptible to inactivation from a number of sources and therefore must be supplied continuously to the process.  The current cost of peroxidase enzymes is relatively high because they are produced in highly purified form and in relatively small quantities for predominantly analytical purposes.  Extra-cellular enzymes require far less processing to achieve commercially useful forms than do intra-cellular enzymes such as Horseradish peroxidase (HRP).  This has prompted investigation of peroxidase enzymes such as Arthromyces ramosus peroxidase and Coprinus cinereus peroxidase (among others) that are produced extra-cellularly by fungi.   The proposed research will be conducted in the following three phases: (1) Optimizing peroxidase production by Coprinus species fungi in a sequencing batch or continuous flow reactor using a low cost growth medium; (2) Establishing reactor design and operating recommendations for the removal of phenols and endocrine disrupting compounds by the harvested enzymatic solutions; and (3) Assessing the use of selected fungi as a biological treatment method for the removal of endocrine disrupting compounds (EDC) from settled secondary municipal effluent.