The increased presence of persistent synthetic organic carbon compounds (SOCs) in surface waters, sewage effluent and wastewater has become an ever-greater focus of public and research attention in recent years. Particularly for drinking water abstraction via bank filtration and groundwater infiltration, comparatively high levels of anthropogenically introduced contaminants represent a serious and increasingly pressing problem in terms of the chemical pollution of our surface waters. As many of these substances – particularly active pharmaceutical ingredients – cannot be removed, or can only be removed inadequately, by conventional wastewater treatment technology, partly due to their polarity, supplementary processes are already being tested and, in some cases, implemented to reduce the accumulation of problematic compounds in the aquatic ecosystem. However, many of these methods, which supplement conventional wastewater treatment, are characterised by high maintenance requirements and, in many cases, high energy consumption.

A promising approach to addressing the problem described is the use of oxidising enzymes, such as horseradish peroxidase or laccase, to produce suitable immobilised enzymes through the functionalisation of porous carrier materials. The functionality of this approach can be demonstrated on various support materials for compounds with ecotoxicological potential, such as diclofenac, ethinyl oestradiol and bisphenol A. The functionality of this approach has been demonstrated, for example, by the laccase-catalysed transformation of the aforementioned compounds on various support materials, in this case Basotect. The covalent immobilisation of the enzyme is achieved, amongst other things, via a reactive polymeric intermediate layer.