Immobilization of high catalytic acid protease on functionalized mesoporous activated carbon particles

The functionalized mesoporous activated carbon (FMAC) was used as support material for immobilization of acid protease (AP). Immobilization of acid protease on functionalized mesoporous activated carbon (AP–FMAC) performs as a suitable enzyme carrier. Under optimized condition pH (6.0) acid protease 150 mg g−1 FMAC has been adsorbed. The optimum temperature for both free and immobilized AP activities was 50 °C. After incubation at 50 °C, the immobilized AP maintained 50% of its initial activity, while the free enzyme was completely inactivated. A significant catalytic efficiency was maintained along for more than five consecutive reaction cycles in AP–FMAC combination immobilized system. The functional groups of the AP, FMAC and AP–FMAC were observed by Fourier transformer infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) allowed us to observe the morphology of the surface of FMAC and the AP–FMAC.