Soybeans: A Peroxidase Source for the Biotreatment of Effluents

Among the numerous applications of soybean, its use as a source of soybean peroxidase is of particular interest in the area of bioremediation. Peroxidases are oxidoreductase enzymes with a wide variety of substrate specificity, that catalyse, in the presence of hydrogen peroxide, the oxidative polymerisation of different pollutants widely found in industrial effluents. These pollutants can be highly toxic for both human beings and the environment and they must be removed from wastewater before they are discharged into the environment. The use of enzymes is presented as an alternative method for the industrial wastewater treatment when conventional physical, chemical and biological methods such as adsorption in carbon active, chemical oxidation and micro-organism treatment may be ineffective. This book discusses the various advantages of soybeans as a source for the biotreatment of hazardous effluents.