Effect of coniferyl alcohol addition on removal of chlorophenols from water effluent by fungal laccase

Abstract

The effect of coniferyl alcohol on removal of chlorinated phenols from a water environment by Rhizoctonia praticola and Cerrena unicolor laccases was studied. At optimal conditions in which 7 mM coniferyl alcohol and laccase were added to chlorinated phenols over 20 h, about 34% of the radioactivity of 4-chlorophenol, 57% of 2,4-dichlorophenol, 66% of 2,4,5-trichlorophenol, and 85% of pentachlorophenol were removed from the supernatants, compared to the level without laccase activity. After 12-h incubation periods at the optimal concentrations of coniferyl alcohol and laccase (added simultaneously), the fast first phase of chlorophenol removal was complete in 1 h, and eventually coniferyl alcohol enhanced the removal of 4-chlorophenol by 40%, 2,4-dichlorophenol by 54%, 2,4,5-trichlorophenol by 60%, and pentachlorophenol by 76%. © The Japan Wood Research Society 1999.