The use of nanotechnology in biocatalysis opens new doors for scientists
Biocatalysis has become an important part in the synthesis of organic products in chemical and pharmaceutical industries. Scientists have applied nanotechnology to enzyme immobilization strategies, which have greatly improved biocatalysis and the production of a variety of important products. Biocatalysis is a process that uses natural substances, especially enzymes, to increase the rate of chemical reactions. Scientists say enzymes are responsible for catalyzing hundreds of reactions, including the production of cheese, alcohol and biofuels.
As technology advances, researchers have gained a better understandingof the structure and function of enzymes, helping to design enzymes with increased activity, stability, sustainability, and substrate specificity.
Several biocatalysis processes have been used in the chemical, fragrance, pharmaceutical, food and agricultural industries. Research based on biocatalyst involves discovery of novel biocatalysts, identification of target reactions, biocatalyst engineering and process modeling. Immobilized enzymes on carrier materials have multiple advantages, including high catalytic efficiency, shortest reaction time, increased reusability, simpler downstream treatments for continuous scale operations, and high enzyme to substrate ratios, resulting in lower operating costs.
Some of the characteristics of nanobatalysis are high activity, stability, selectivity, energy efficiency and ease of separation from reactive mixtures. Studies have shown that small nanoparticles with increased surface area strongly affect their catalytic performance by improving the availability of active catalytic sites. Despite the great potential of biofuels as an alternative energy source, the commercialization of biofuel production processes has not yet reached a level. This is mainly due to the lack of cost-effective and efficient biomass conversion technologies. The application of nanotechnology in biocatalysis opens the door to the production of biofuels in a cost-effective manner. Currently, scientists are focusing on improving the reusability, catalytic performance, selectivity and stability of nanocatalysts. As nanotechnology-based solutions have been successfully implemented in many industries, scientists are optimistic that future applications of nanobatalysts will facilitate the commercial production of biofuels and other economically important biological products.
Post time: Jun-18-2022