Industrial Applications of Enzymes

Protease is an enzyme used widely for detergents and dairy production, baking, and also in the pulp, paper, and leather industries. Carbohydrases, primarily amylases and cellulases, are used in starches, textiles, detergents, and the baking industry. Lipases are used in food, pulp, paper, leather, and the organic synthesis industries. 

Supercritical Fluids Technology in Lipase Catalyzed Processes 

Enzymes Used in Various Industrial Areas and Their Applications 

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Eggleston, G. and Vercellotti, J.R. (eds) (2007) Industrial Applications of Enzymes on Carbohydrate-based Materials, ACS Symposium Series 6, Oxford University Press. 

Even the development of fermentation of citric acid (Pfizer), and penicilhn (Beecham, Glaxo, Merck, Pfizer, Squibb, Bristol Myers) in the 1920 s and 1940 s, respectively (Turner, 1994) did not really trigger a scale-up of industrial applications of enzymes. 

Although relatively few enzymes are used in the dairy industry on a significant scale, the use of rennets in cheesemaking is one of the principal of all industrial applications of enzymes. 

Rennets. The use of rennets in cheesemaking is the principal application of proteinases in food processing and is second only to amylases among industrial applications of enzymes. The sources of rennets and their role in milk coagulation and cheese ripening are discussed in Chapter 10 and will not be considered here. 

This chapter consequently focuses on the application of enzymes for the selective cleavage of esters, amides and nitriles [2], Out of all the reported industrial applications of enzymes these type of hydrolyses constitute more than 40% [3], Enzymatic hydrolyses are often performed because of the enantioselectivity of enzymes, and in particular of the lipases that are used for the production of enantiopure fine chemicals. 

Much like temperature, many industrial applications of enzymes require activity in the presence of organic solvents. Interestingly, Burton et al.118 have pointed out that thermostability and tolerance of organic solvents are characteristics that are often linked sequence and structural modifications that improve activity to one denaturing influence often also improve tolerance to others. Unfortunately, enzymes have generally evolved to function in aqueous media solvents are believed to denature and inactivate enzymes by exclusion of water from critical structural or functional components. Thus, many enzymes cannot tolerate common bioprocess conditions and techniques such as directed evolution must be used to improve their stability. 

As a dominant technology in the chemicals industries, catalysis provides an important long-term commercial target for biotechnology. While enzymes represent the most efficient catalytic systems known, their impact on the chemicals industry relative to traditional catalysts is still small. Developments at the interface of biology and chemistry will be key to overcoming the major barriers to broad industrial application of enzyme catalysis. 

Poulsen, P. (1987). Trends in industrial applications of enzymes. Annals of the New York Academy of... 

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