This reference is a "must-read": It explains how an effective and economically viable enzymatic process in industry is developed and presents numerous successful examples which underline the efficiency of biocatalysis.
The field of industrial enzyme applications has been extensively reviewed, including its historic background [1â4]. Therefore this chapter will not repeat the excellent work of others but provide historic context in the following chapters and give a general overview of the field, including topics that we have chosen not to cover in detail in this book. It is also meant as a tribute to the many pioneering scientists that enlightened us with their brilliant minds about the miracles of life and how enzymes work (see Section 1.1.2) and to the visionary entrepreneurs shaping a growing multibillion enzyme business (see Section 1.1.3).
While we have come a long way in unraveling how enzymes work, we have still not captured all the details on how they achieve the huge rate acceleration of the reactions they catalyze, nor have we explored exhaustively their full potential in existing as well as new application fields. This leaves room for us and future generations standing on the shoulders of giants some of which are mentioned in the following, or are hidden in the prehistoric world that applied enzymes, even without knowing they existed.
1.1.1 Prehistoric Applications
Enzymes played an important role early in the history and development of humanity. The Neolithic Revolution of around 12 500 years ago marked the transition of lifestyles from hunting and gathering to agriculture and settlement. With this transition, farming practices were invented, leading to domestication of plants and animals. While safe storage of hunted or gathered food was certainly already important during the Neolithic times, the unconscious use of microbes and the action of their enzymes allowed to preserve the food and supply it to others who could focus on other activities outside the primary production of food. Certainly, people also enjoyed improved palatability or a desirable taste of food that was in contact with microorganisms that contributed to these desired properties.
While no one can really determine the exact date when the first products were made in which enzymes from microbes, plant, or animal tissues played such a beneficial role, the first scientifically proven evidence, based on residues found in pottery vessels for cheese making, dates back to 7500 years ago [5]. What a great invention to preserve milk without a fridge and make it palatable as well as enjoyable! Today's enzyme applications in dairy are covered in Chapter 2.3 and the achievements of Christian Hansen, an entrepreneur starting a very successful enzyme and starter culture business in 1874, are described in Section 1.1.3.
The first indication of enzymeâassisted grain processing to produce an alcoholic beverage was found in the Neolithic village of Jiahu in China and dates back to 7000 BCE [6]. Based on chemical analyses of organics absorbed into ancient pottery the authors have shown that a mixed fermented beverage of rice, honey, and fruit (hawthorn fruit and/or grape) was being produced. The earliest proof of wine production dated to 5400â5000 BCE, at the Neolithic site of Tepe in Mesopotamia [7] where tartaric acid was found in an old jar, and around 5000 BCE from grape juice residues found in Dikili Tash in Greece [8]. For over 2500 years Aspergillus strains have been extensively used in China as starter cultures in grain (soy, rice) fermentation, a traditional practice for production of rice wine (sake) or other distilled products (shochu), which were imported from Japan by Buddhist monks [9]. The Japanese word Koji still uses the Chinese character (
) that means (wheat) grains fermented by fungi. Today, grain processing and malt production are separate industries whereas in the Western world malt production can be considered as the first sector that industrialized enzyme production (see also Section 1.1.3).
Next to being used for fermentative processes, Koji has been used as digestive aid, as first described 2500 years ago in a Chinese classic book entitled âZuoâZhuan,â in the English Chronicle of Zuo or Commentary of Zuo [10]. In the description, wheatâbased Koji was used to treat digestion problems. This tradition was later turned into the first industrial application of a fungal enzyme by Jokichi Takamine, one of the pioneering entrepreneurs discussed in Section 1.1.3 and who also inspired the...
