Progress and Prospects of Sustainable Textile Processing Through Immobilized Enzyme Systems

ABSTRACT Enzymes have been increasingly explored as biocatalysts in textile processing due to their potential to reduce energy consumption and chemical usage compared with some conventional processes. Although free enzymes have been extensively studied for textile processes such as desizing, scouring, bleaching, and biopolishing, their widespread industrial implementation is often constrained by limited operational stability and difficulties associated with enzyme recovery and reuse. As a result, enzyme immobilization has gained increasing attention as an approach to improve enzyme robustness and facilitate process integration under industrial conditions. Immobilized enzymes can exhibit enhanced tolerance to variations in pH and temperature, improved mechanical stability, and simpler separation from the reaction medium compared to free enzymes. Ongoing developments in carrier materials, hybrid supports, and functional biopolymer matrices have further broadened the scope of immobilized enzymes for more resource‑efficient textile processing applications. Despite these developments, much of the existing literature continues to focus on applications of free enzymes, while comparatively fewer studies provide a systematic analysis of the advances, limitations, and future potential of immobilized enzyme systems specifically for textile processing. This review therefore aims to present a structured overview of recent progress in immobilized enzyme technologies, with particular emphasis on the fundamental principles of enzyme immobilization and the emerging possibilities for incorporating immobilized enzymes into more circular and resource‑efficient textile processing frameworks.