23 - Enzyme engineering for advanced treatment of textile wastewater

Abstract

The present chapter deals with enzyme engineering approach for advancement in the treatment of textile industry effluent. Looking at the current global scenario, textile industry-generated pollution has raised a lot of environmental and health concerns. Currently available methods of biodegradation of textile dyes still face limitations for their economic and effective large-scale application. Bioremediation primarily depends on efficiency of enzymes expressed by different biological systems employed in the process. However, natural enzymes are not competent enough to effectively deal with the complex and highly variable textile industry effluent. Genetic engineering techniques offer many opportunities to improve the bioremediation process. However, enzyme engineering is the technique which has emerged as a promising resolution for optimization of the biocatalyst involved in the process of biodegradation of textile dyes. Advanced genetic engineering methods and availability of advanced computational tools required in protein research have paved way to engineer vital enzymes to expand their commercial and eco-friendly applications. The chapter mainly focuses on the concept of enzyme engineering, different approaches used for enzyme modification, application of engineered biocatalysts for bioremediation purposes and current scenario of modification of enzymes known to play dynamic role in the treatment of textile industry wastewater.