Plasma polymerization onto nonwoven polyethylene/polypropylene fibers for laccase immobilization as dye decolorization filter media

This study reports the use of plasma-coated nonwoven polyethylene/polypropylene (PEPP) fibers for laccase immobilization as a dye decolorization filter. For this study, manufactured PEPP nonwovens were used for which the material filter efficiency was 96.2%. Following plasma polymerization, the carbon and oxygen contents on the surface decreased, while the nitrogen content increased. Moreover, under optimum laccase immobilization conditions, the pH and thermal stabilities of the enzyme-immobilized nonwoven PEPPs improved compared to that of the free enzyme. Furthermore, the activity of the immobilized laccase remained sufficient after 5 d, and 20% of the initial activity was observed after recycling the material eight times. Furthermore, surface observations confirmed that the roughness of the nonwoven PEPPs increased following immobilization. Finally, decolorization efficiencies of 43.0 and 39.8% were obtained using the allylamine- and cyclopropylamine-modified systems, respectively. Based on this study, it was confirmed that PEPP fibers could be used as filtration materials for the decomposition of dyes.