Laccase immobilization on core-shell magnetic metal-organic framework microspheres for alkylphenol ethoxylate compound removal

An amino-functionalized magnetic core-shell structure metal-organic framework (MOF), Fe3O4-NH2@MIL-100 (Fe), has been successfully constructed by a step-by-step method. The composite microspheres exhibited excellent magnetic characteristics, large surface area, and pore size, which were employed for the Trametes versicolor laccase immobilization. The immobilized laccase exhibited high activity recovery (72.05%) and significantly improved stability. The reactive activity remained 75% of its initial activity after storage for 4 weeks. Additionally, when the ambient reached 80 °C, the good stability enabled the immobilization laccase to keep 33% residual activity even after 6 h storage. Application of the immobilized laccase for environmental pollutant alkylphenol polyethoxylate (APEO) removal was also investigated. The results showed the immobilized laccase can remove 100% octylphenol polyethoxylate (OPEO) and 98.16% nonylphenol polyethoxylate (NPEO) in 200 min, and can still achieve 63.42% and 46.17% removal efficiency for OPEO and NPEO after reusing four cycles, respectively. The novel MOF based core-shell magnetic composite microspheres introduced by this study showed promising applications as laccase immobilization support, and both the immobilized laccase and its support had great potential in wastewater treatment.