Employment of immobilised lipase from Candida rugosa for the bioremediation of waters polluted by dimethylphthalate, as a model of endocrine disruptors

A planar bioreactor, equipped with a polypropylene membrane on which a lipase was immobilised, has been employed in a bioremediation process involving water polluted by dimethylphthalate (DMP), a model for a class of endocrine disruptors. The dependence of enzyme activity on pH, temperature and DMP concentration has been characterised under isothermal conditions, whereas the kinetics parameters have been studied under non-isothermal conditions. The following sequence was found for the values of lipase affinity, Km, towards the DMP: Kmfree