A Review on Enzymatic Treatment of Phenols in Wastewater

Tyrosinase is a natural enzyme and mainly catalyses the o-hydroxylation of monophenols into their corresponding o-diphenols. The synthesis of o-diphenols is a potentially valuable catalytic ability and thus tyrosinase has attracted a lot of attention with respect to industrial applications. In environmental technology, it is used for the detoxification of phenol-containing wastewaters and contaminated soils and also used in cosmetic and food industries as important catalytic enzyme. Phenols are present in effluents of a number of industries such as coal conversion, resins, plastic, petroleum refining, textiles, dyes and organic chemicals. Conventional processes for removal of phenols have drawbacks of incomplete removal of phenols. Hence, an alternative based on enzymes has been investigated. This review summarizes the current research based on removal of phenol from waste streams by enzyme polyphenoloxidase (tyrosinase).