Utilization of Enzymes for Environmental Applications

Abstract

Enzymes are powerful tools that help sustain a clean environment in several ways. They are utilized for environmental purposes in a number of industries including agro-food, oil, animal feed, detergent, pulp and paper, textile, leather, petroleum, and specialty chemical and biochemical industry. Enzymes also help to maintain an unpolluted environment through their use in waste management. Recombinant DNA technology, protein engineering, and rational enzyme design are the emerging areas of research pertaining to environmental applications of enzymes. The future will also see the employment of various technologies including gene shuffling, high throughput screening, and nanotechnology. This article presents an overview of the enzymatic applications in pollution control and the promising research avenues in this area.

Cold active lipases – an update

“…The detergent industry is the largest market for industrial enzymes (Ahuja et al 2004). Lipases improve the washing capability of detergents towards the fatty food stains from fabrics which are difficult to go off during normal washing conditions (Andree et al 1980).…”

Genomic tools in bioremediation

“…Genomic tools are now used for elucidation of biodegradation pathways using PCR, DNA hybridization, Microarray analysis, isotope distribution analysis, molecular connectivity analysis, the assessment of mineralization process using metabolic footprinting analysis, and the improvement of the biodegradation process via metabolic engineering [48]. The future will also see the employment of various technologies including gene shuffl ing, high throughput screening, and nanotechnology [49].…”

Application of alkaline phosphatase for heavy metals precipitation using ascorbic acid 2-phosphate as an effective natural substrate

“…The disadvantage of using microorganisms is the difficulty in maintaining optimum conditions for their growth and survival, e.g., oxygen availability, moisture levels, pollutant levels, pH, and temperature (Baker and Herson 1994). On the contrary, the use of enzymes also known as ' 'White Biotechnology'' (Alcalde et al 2006) is more desirable for enhanced bioremediation because of the inherent capacity of the enzymes to remain active under a wide range of environmental conditions (Ahuja et al 2004;Gianfreda and Rao 2004). Moreover, enzymatic precipitation produces less toxic or biodegradable end products (Ruggaber and Talley 2006).…”