Chicken feather derived novel support material for immobilization of laccase and its application in oxidation of veratryl alcohol

Application of biocatalyst at an industrial scale primarily depends on its intrinsic properties, nature of support materials and scalability of the catalyst. Support materials play an important role in the biocatalytic performance with their mechanical and thermal properties, accessibility, non-toxicity, and ease of derivatization for immobilizion of enzyme. Chicken feather, a readily available poultry waste material, was processed and modified for enzyme immobilization. Trametes maxima laccase (TML) was immobilized on the amino-functionalized chicken feather particles (ACFP), and an immobilization yield of 74.24 % was achieved along with an improved pH and temperature tolerance, and reusability. The kinetics and thermodynamics of thermal inactivation of free TML and immobilized TML@ ACFP were studied where immobilized TML@ ACFP displayed increased half-life (t1/2) and decimal reduction time (D-value).Thermodynamic parameters, including the activation energy for deactivation (Ed), Gibbs free energy (ΔG), ...