Treatment of simulated dairy wastewater using artificial amoeba- based enzyme carriers for enhanced degradation of complex organic compounds

Abstract

Conventional methods for treating food industry wastewater are often constrained by low resource recovery and high operational costs. This study introduces an innovative artificial amoeba (AA)-based enzyme carrier designed to enhance the efficiency of dairy wastewater treatment by improving enzyme stability and activity, while simultaneously promoting the resource utilization potential of microalgae. The AA was fabricated via electroformation, encapsulating an agarose-glycerol gel and protease within liposomes to mimic the protective mechanism of natural amoebae. Enzymatic conditions were optimized to evaluate the hydrolytic efficiency on complex organic substrates. Notably, the enzymatic pretreatment of dairy wastewater markedly stimulated the growth of Chlorella vulgaris, achieving a biomass concentration of 1.36 g/L approximately ninefold higher than that obtained with untreated wastewater. This study not only presents a novel strategy for the effective treatment of dairy effluents but also offers a promising pathway for sustainable resource valorization through microalgal biotechnology for the production of high-value bio-based products.