Industrial enzymes refer to biological products with catalytic function prepared after enzymes are processed. There are more than 3,000 kinds of enzymes found in the world, of which less than 100 kinds of enzymes can be produced on a large scale. Industrial enzyme preparations have the advantages of high efficiency, low energy consumption, good specificity, and mild reaction conditions. They are currently used in medicine, dairy products, food, feed, chemicals, paper, leather and other fields.
Common Industrial Enzymes
In the field of food and beverage, common industrial enzymes include protease, lipase, amylase, saccharification enzyme, lysozyme, lactase hydrolase, and isomerase. It can improve the quality and production efficiency of foods such as bread, dairy products, oils, wine, juice, beer, etc., while maintaining the consistency of product quality, and reducing the use of emulsifiers, bromates and other chemicals.
In the field of feed, common industrial enzymes include xylanase, glucanase, phytase, pectinase, amylase, and protease. It can improve the feed absorption rate of livestock, thereby increasing the growth rate of livestock, while reducing unnecessary excretion. In addition, it can eliminate anti-nutritional factors, reduce ammonia and phosphorus excretion, and protect the environment).
In the field of starch industry, common industrial enzymes include cellulase, acid protease, xylanase, pentosanase, amylase and the like. These enzymes are used to promote better separation between starch components, reducing the use of chemicals. Industrial enzymes can be used to convert starch into different sugars such as maltose, fructose, glucose.
In the field of washing and decontamination, common industrial enzymes include protease, amylase, cellulase, pectinase, mannanase, and fructase. These enzymes can reduce the use of surfactants such as phosphates in detergents, while providing high cleaning power, energy saving and high concentration.
In the textile industry, common industrial enzymes are amylase, pectinase, catalase, cellulase, laccase, and esterase.
In the field of biofuels, common industrial enzymes include saccharification enzymes, amylases, viscosity-reducing enzymes, proteases, phytases, and lipases. These enzymes help convert starch into fermentable sugars while reducing resistance to heat and mass transfer in the process and difficulties in operating cells.
Production of Industrial Enzymes
Some enzymes are still extracted from animal or plant tissue. Plant sources include proteases, papain, and bromelain, as well as special enzymes such as lipoxygenase in soybeans. Enzymes of animal origin include proteases such as pepsin and renin. However, most enzymes are produced by the deep cultivation of microorganisms in large reactors called fermentors.
The production process of enzymes can be divided into the following stages:
- Enzyme selection.
- Selection of production strains.
- Construct high-yielding strains through genetic engineering.
- Optimization of culture medium and production conditions.
- Optimization of the recovery process (and purification if necessary);
- Formulation of stable enzyme products.
Criteria used to select industrial enzymes include specificity, reaction rate, pH, optimum temperature, stability, effect of inhibitors, and affinity to substrates. Enzymes used in the paper industry should not contain cellulose degrading activity as a side activity because it would destroy cellulose fibers. Enzymes used in the animal feed industry must be thermostable to survive the hot extrusion process of animal feed production. Enzymes for industrial applications often must be tolerant to various heavy metals without the need for cofactors. They should be maximally active in the presence of low substrate concentrations in order to complete the intended reaction within a realistic time frame.
