Abstract
The combustion oxidation of nitrocellulose at 300oC was employed to modify activated carbon by the introduction of oxygen-containing complexes onto its surface. The pore structure, elemental composition and chemical nature of the functional groups attached to the surface of the activated carbon were investigated after such oxidation.
The results obtained show that oxygen-containing complexes may be introduced efficiently via the combustion of nitrocellulose, with the adsorption capacity of the resulting activated carbon towards α-amylase being enhanced due to interaction between the amino groups of α-amylase and the oxygen-containing surface groups. Thus, oxidized activated carbons with α-amylase immobilized on their surfaces exhibited a hydrolysis activity greater than 63% (based on free α-amylase) after five runs, while the hydrolysis activity of α-amylase immobilized on the original activated carbon was only 15% after two runs.
A simple method for introducing oxygen-containing complexes onto the surface of activated carbon through the use of nitrocellulose combustion is described in the present work. The resulting oxidized activated carbon may be used as a support for the immobilization of α-amylase, with the immobilized α-amylase exhibiting a high hydrolysis activity even after repeated use.