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Cellulase was immobilized on functionalized magnetic silica nanospheres using glutaraldehyde as a cross-linking agent. The morphologies, structures and magnetic properties of this immobilized cellulase were characterized by transmission electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, differential thermal analysis and vibrating sample magnetometry. The properties of immobilized cellulase were investigated, including the amount of immobilized cellulase and its relative activity, stability and reusability. The results indicated that immobilized cellulase exhibited better resistance to high temperature and pH inactivation in comparison to free cellulase. Moreover, immobilized cellulase with and without cross-linking agent were investigated and the former had greater amount of immobilized cellulase and better operational stability. The amount of immobilized cellulase with the cross-linking agent was 92 mg/g support. Furthermore, the activity of the immobilized cellulase was still 85.5% of the initial activity after 10 continuous uses, demonstrating the potential of this immobilized cellulase for large-scale biofuel production.

Allura red (AR) is a water-soluble synthetic colorant often used as an additive in the food industry, but excess AR can be harmful to human health. In this work, we report the development of a new removal method for AR by using amino-functionalized microspheres with Fe₃O₄ cores and twolayer shells composed of SiO₂ particles and perpendicularly aligned mesoporous SiO₂ (designated Fe₃O₄@nSiO₂@mSiO₂–NH₂). The material exhibits good dispersibility in aqueous solutions and a high saturation magnetization of 45.68emug${}^{-1}$, and can be magnetically separated efficiently with an external magnet. Importantly, the material has great adsorption capacity of 29.6mgg${}^{-1}$ for AR and the capacity for reuse with a simple treatment. The adsorption process is very fast and the kinetics data are consistent with a pseudo-second order model. Based on these, a rapid and efficient method for extraction and analysis of AR in water and soft drinks has been established.