Enzyme cocktail: a greener approach for biobleaching in paper and pulp industry

Paper and pulp industries generate a substantial amount of wastewater, causing aquatic and terrestrial pollutions. As the wastewater contains hazardous organo-chlorinated compounds emitted during the different stages of the papermaking process, it has a significant effect on the ecosystem. Biotechnology offers certain cost-effective and pollution-free ways, such as the use of enzyme cocktail for a significant reduction in waste-loaded water resources. Enzyme cocktails including laccase, lignin peroxidase, manganese peroxidase, xylanase, lipase, cellulose, protease, and amylase have notable potentials as biobleaching agents because they are highly efficient, biorenewable, mild, nonpolluting, selective, and inexpensive, and improve paper quality. Enzymatic deinking, debarking, and vessel picking reduction using enzymes are still in the research and development stages, but they hold a lot of promise for minimizing energy consumption. Other enzymatic applications, such as removing shives and slime, the retting of flax fibers, and the selective removal of xylan, also significantly affect the pulp and papermaking process. This chapter spotlights the broad-spectrum applications of microbial enzyme cocktail as a greener, ecofriendly, and futuristic approach in the paper and pulp industry for biobleaching purposes. In conclusion, enzymes cocktail has been effective as a cleaner and greener approach for pulp biobleaching agent, and the process is inexpensive and ecofriendly for the environment.