Application of Microbial Enzymes in Degradation and Detoxification of Organic and Inorganic Pollutants

Abstract

Microbial enzymes have been reported to play a diverse role in various industrial applications. Microbial enzymes are also useful in bioremediation of environmental pollutants from industrial wastes due to their high specificity to a broad range of substrates (pollutants), use under extreme conditions that microbe cannot thrive, high effectiveness at low pollutant concentration, high activity in the presence of inhibitors of microbial metabolism, and high mobility (small size) than microorganisms. A variety of enzymes are produced by microorganisms that can be used in the degradation and detoxification of a wide range of organic and inorganic pollutants. This chapter provides an overview on the various microbial enzymes that can be used for the bioremediation of environmental pollutants. In addition, the prospects and challenges in applying microbial enzymes in bioremediation are also discussed in this chapter.