Abstract

Pore-expanded MCM-41 (PE-MCM-41) silica exhibits a unique combination of high specific surface area (ca.1000 m2/g), pore size (up to 25 nm) and pore volume (up to 3.5 cm3/g). The current study focused primarily on the application of PE-MCM-41 material as suitable host for urease in controlled hydrolysis of urea. Urease adsorbed on PEMCM-41, regular MCM-41 and silica gel adsorbent (SGA) were used as catalysts for urea hydrolysis reaction. Adsorption studies of urease on these materials from aqueous solution at pH 7.2 revealed that the adsorption capacity of PE-MCM-41 (102 mglg) is significantly higher than that of MCM-41 (56 mglg) and SGA (21 mglg). The equilibrium adsorption data were well fitted using the Langmuir-Freundlich model. Furthermore, the kinetic study revealed that the uptake of urease follows the pseudo-first order kinetics. The in-vitro urea hydrolysis reaction on pristine urease and different urease-loaded catalysts showed that the rate of hydrolysis reaction is significantly slower on UPE-MCM-41 compared to that of bulk urease and urease on MCM-41 and SGA.

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