Laccases textile industry

Bioremediation of food industry wastewater Bioremediation is a general concept that includes all those processes and actions that take place as an attempt to biotransform an environment, already altered by contaminants, to its original status. Laccase is a well-known enzyme in bioremediation because of its ability to degrade phenolic compounds (Morozova and others 2007). As mentioned for peroxidase, aromatic compounds, including phenols and aromatic amines, constitute one of the major classes of pollutants and are heavily regulated in many countries. This ability of laccases has been applied in different areas of both the food and textile industries, such as breweries and olive oil factories. 

The textile industry requires large amounts of water, energy, and auxiliary chemicals [147]. The search for environmental-friendly methods has lead to the utilization of enzymes. Several enzymes have been used in textile processes in order to achieve improved and fashionable fabric properties. Among other enzymes for textile processing, amylases (used for desizing), cellulases (denim finishing), laccase (decolourization of textile effluents and textile bleaching) are commercially available [148, 149]. 

The biotechnological potential of laccases—working with air and producing water as sole by-product—has led to applications from the textile to the pulp and paper industries, from food applications to bioremediation, as well as their use in organic synthesis. 

Genencor has recently launched its new range of PrimaGreen cellulase, laccase and esterase enzyme products for textile processing. These allow combined denim abrasion, color adjustment and bleaching processes at lower temperatures, mild pH conditions and with significant less use of water. They operate from the vision that they can enable the textile processing industry... 

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