Immobilization of Recombinant Endoglucanase (CelA) from Clostridium thermocellum on Modified Regenerated Cellulose Membrane

Cellulases are being widely employed in lignocellulosic biorefineries for the sustainable production of value-added bioproducts. However, the high production cost, sensitivity, and non-reusability of free cellulase enzymes impede their commercial applications. Enzyme immobilization seems to be a potential approach to address the aforesaid complications. The current study aims at the production of recombinant endoglucanase (CelA) originated from the cellulosome of Clostridium thermocellum in Escherichia coli (E. coli), followed by immobilization using modified regenerated cellulose (RC) membranes. The surface modification of RC membranes was performed in two different ways: one to generate the immobilized metal ion affinity membranes RC-EPI-IDA-Co2+ (IMAMs) for coordination coupling and another to develop aldehyde functional group membranes RC-EPI-DA-GA (AMs) for covalent bonding. For the preparation of IMAMs, cobalt ions expressed the highest affinity effect compared to other metal ions. Both enzyme-immobilized membranes exhibited better thermal stability and maintained an improved relative activity at higher temperatures (50–90 °C). In the storage analysis, 80% relative activity was retained after 15 days at 4 °C. Furthermore, the IMAM- and AM-immobilized CelA retained 63% and 53% relative activity, respectively, after being reused five times. As to the purification effect during immobilization, IMAMs showed a better purification fold of 3.19 than AMs. The IMAMs also displayed better kinetic parameters, with a higher Vmax of 15.57 U mg−1 and a lower Km of 36.14 mg mL−1, than those of AMs. The IMAMs were regenerated via treatment with stripping buffer and reloaded with enzymes and displayed almost 100% activity, the same as free enzymes, up to 5 cycles of regeneration.