Immobilization of laccase on magnetic mesoporous silica as a recoverable biocatalyst for the efficient degradation of benzo[a]pyrene

Laccase is an efficient green biocatalyst, widely used for the degradation of various organic pollutants. However, free laccase is unstable and difficult to recover, which limits its practical application. In this study, a multilayer core-shell magnetic mesoporous silica (Fe3O4@d-SiO2@p-SiO2) microsphere with high specific surface area (275 m2 g−1) was fabricated for immobilization of laccase. The unique structure of Fe3O4@d-SiO2@p-SiO2 enabled the successful immobilization of laccase. Under the optimal immobilization conditions of laccase concentration of 1.5 mg mL−1, immobilization time of 6 h, immobilization pH of 6, the loading capacity of laccase was up to 567 mg g−1. Compared with free laccase, immobilized laccase exhibited remarkable pH stability, thermal stability and storage stability. Moreover, the immobilized laccase was easy to achieve magnetic recovery and possessed excellent reusability, with its activity remaining 58.2% after 10 consecutive reuses. More importantly, immobilized laccase had good degradation performance for benzo[a]pyrene (BaP), which can achieve rapid and efficient degradation of low concentration BaP over a wide range of pH and temperature. The removal efficiency of BaP was up to 99.0% within 1 h, and still exceeded 35.0% after 5 cycles. The removal of BaP by immobilized laccase was achieved through both adsorption and degradation. The degradation products and possible degradation pathways were determined by GC-MS analysis. This study indicated that Fe3O4@d-SiO2@p-SiO2 could effectively enhance the stability and biocatalytic activity of laccase, which is expected to provide a new clean biotechnology for the remediation of BaP contaminated sites.