Industrial Uses of Enzymes

Industrial Uses of Enzymes

Most of the reactions catalysed by enzymes have commercial or

industrial uses. These reactions used to happen by using high heats or

strong acids but no enzymes can be used in these industrial processes.

Here are just a few ways they can be used.

Biological washing powders use the enzyme protease. This is enzyme is

used to break down protein stains for example food and blood. The

enzymes need alkali conditions to work there best and the detergents

provide this. And as the enzymes work at relatively low temperatures

this means the washing machine does not have to work at high

temperatures. This is one advantage to using enzymes in biological

washing powder. This is an economic advantage because the washing

machine is not using, as much heat so it will not be using as much

energy and this will be saving on the cost of your electric and

heating bills and the cooler the temperature the kinder it is to your

clothes so they last for longer. It's also an environmental advantage

because it does not need to be so hot so less fuel is used. A

disadvantage to using enzymes in biological washing powder is that

some people become extremely allergic to the free enzyme, so to solve

this problem before the enzyme is added to the other ingredients in

the washing powder it is coated in wax. This wax makes the enzyme dust

free and so it is only released in the wash. This happens when the

warm water from the washing machine melts the wax and the enzyme is

set free to collide with its substrate and remove the stains from your

clothes.

Another use of enzymes is preparing leather for commercial sale.

Because leather was once the skin of an animal all the hair on the

skin needs to be removed. This used to be done with a mixture of

chemicals, but these chemicals produced harmful poisonous gases so an

alternative was needed. Also the skin of the animal needed to be made