Cost-effective, scalable production of glucose oxidase using Casuarina equisetifolia biomass and its application in the bio-Fenton oxidation process for the removal of trace organic contaminants from wastewater.

This study focuses on using Casuarina equisetifolia biomass for pilot-scale glucose oxidase production from Aspergillus niger and its application in the removal of trace organic contaminants (TrOCs) from municipal wastewater through the bio-Fenton oxidation. The cost of glucose oxidase was 0.005 $/U, including the optimum production parameters, 10% biomass, 7% sucrose, 1% peptone, and 3% CaCO at 96 h with an enzyme activity of 670 U/mL. Optimized conditions for HO were 1 M glucose, 100 U/mL glucose oxidase, and 120 mins of incubation, resulting in 544.3 mg/L HO. Thus, HO produced under these conditions lead to bio-Fenton oxidation resulting in the removal of 36-92% of nine TrOCs in municipal wastewater at pH 7.0 in 360 mins. Therefore, this work establishes the cost-effective glucose oxidase-producing HO as an attractive bioremediating agent to enhance the removal of TrOCs in wastewater at neutral pH.