Preparation and characterization of alpha-amylase immobilized inorganic/organic hybrid membrane using chitosan as a dispersant in the sol-gel process

A new method for immobilizing a-amylase in a hybrid inorganic/organic membrane has been developed for the purpose of potential applications as a membrane bioreactor in aqueous phase. It has been found that chitosan can act as an enzyme-stabilizing host and a dispersant which can homogeneously mix an inorganic (SiO2) phase and an organic (polymer) phase. The optimum conditions in preparing the membrane were determined. The resulting microscopically homogeneous membranes were characterized by FT-IR, TGA, and water stability. It was found that the enzyme-incorporated membrane showed a very stable activity for the period of our experimental set-up (30 days).