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Wiley, Biotechnology and Bioengineering, 3(113), p. 501-512, 2015

DOI: 10.1002/bit.25835

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Antifouling activity of enzyme-functionalized silica nanobeads

Journal article published in 2015 by Michele Zanoni, Olivier Habimana ORCID, Jessica Amadio, Eoin Casey
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

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Abstract

The amelioration of biofouling in industrial processing equipment is critical for performance and reliability. While conventional biocides are effective in biofouling control, they are potentially hazardous to the environment and in some cases corrosive to materials. Enzymatic approaches have been shown to be effective and can overcome the disadvantages of traditional biocides, however they are typically uneconomic for routine biofouling control. The aim of this study was to design a robust and reusable enzyme-functionalized nano-bead system having biofilm dispersion properties. This work describes the biochemical covalent functionalization of silica-based nanobeads (hereafter referred to as Si-NanoB) with Proteinase K (PK). Results showed that PK-functionalized Si-NanoB are effective in dispersing both protein-based model biofilms and structurally altering Pseudomonas fluorescens biofilms, with significant decreases in surface coverage and thickness of 30.1% and 38.85% respectively, while increasing surface roughness by 19% following 24-hour treatments on bacterial biofilms. This study shows that enzyme-functionalized nanobeads may potentially be an environmentally friendly and cost effective alternative to pure enzyme and chemical treatments. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.