To gear up the rate of a chemical reaction there is need of some kind of catalyst. Enzymes are in fact such catalysts playing specific role in the biochemical processes. You are more aware of natural proteins that act as enzymes in our body cells. But researches over the ages have found out a huge range of enzymatic use in the biochemical, food and chemical industries.

Protein engineering is actively concentrated in developing new areas of enzyme actions and researching on profound benefits where enzymes can be brought into use.

Specific industrial uses

Milk and dairy products industry: This particular industrial sector makes use of various enzymes to activate the process of formation and making of its different products.

- The common cheese in our daily use requires an enzyme called rennin. This particular enzyme is generally found in the babies of sheep and cows. Rennin is also used to accelerate the hydrolysis process of proteins.

- Lipases, another enzyme is required in the manufacture of blue-mould cheese.

- The very common use of enzyme in the dairy industry in the conversion of glucose into galactose. The enzyme called lactases is responsible for enhancing this process.

Baby diet and juice industries: Enzymes play an important role in the fruit juice industry. Pectinases and cellulases are the two common enzymes commonly used in the juice making companies.

Enzymes are required in the baby foods because they help in the easy breaking of the food particles and help the kid to digest the food easily. The important enzyme hence necessary to serve this purpose is trypsin.

Vivid use of enzymes in bakeries: Different types of delicious bakery products wouldn't have been possible if there were no yeast action. The action of yeast is actually an enzymatic reaction. Fungal alpha-amylase actually leads to the transformation of the starch present in the flour into sugar. The temperature or heat required for this process is nearly 50 degrees centigrade. Once the break-down process is over the respective enzymes are more functional. They are automatically destroyed in the entire baking method itself.

Rubber and paper industry: Enzymatic action is must in the conversion procedure of latex into rubber. What role does the catalase enzyme actually play? The process of rubber formation requires sufficient amount of oxygen and that is produced from peroxide by the action of catalase enzyme.

In the paper industry the main enzymes needed are cellulases and ligninases. The more their action is effective, the better and smoother is the quality of the paper.

Apart from these industries, industrial enzymes are being widely used in the detergent companies, brewing industry and sectors related to Molecular Biology.