IMMOBILIZED ENZYMES SHOW OUTSTANDING PROMISE AS INDUSTRIAL CATALYSTS.

IMMOBILIZED ENZYMES SHOW OUTSTANDING PROMISE AS INDUSTRIAL CATALYSTS. BUT WIDE-SPREAD ADOPTION OF THESE CATALYTIC MATERIALS IN THE FOOD AND CHEMICAL INDUSTRIES REQUIRES BETTER IMMOBILIZATION TECHNOLOGY. THE ENZYME TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH GROUP, LOCATED IN THE RESEARCH TRIANGLE OF NORTH CAROLINA WILL CARRY OUT RESEARCH ON CARRAGEENAN IMMOBILIZATION OF ENZYMES. THE SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE OF THE RESEARCH IS TO IDENTIFY THE BEST CARRAGEENAN BASED CARRIER MATERIAL FOR THE IMMOBILIZATION OF PAPAIN, GLUCOSE ISOMERASE AND CARBONIC ANHYDRASE. RESEARCH WILL BE CARRIED OUT ON THESE TEST ENZYMES IMMOBILIZED ON AT LEAST SIX CARRAGEENAN CARRIER MATERIALS THAT HAVE BEEN FORMED INTO TOUGH GEL BEADS. EXPERIMENTS WILL DETERMINE IMMOBILIZED ENZYME ACTIVITY, EFFECTIVE LIFETIME, THERMAL STABILITY, AND LEAKAGE OR LOSS FROM THE CARRIER GEL BEADS, AND STUDY CERTAIN RECONSTITUTION PROCEDURES. THE RESEARCH OUGHT TO GIVE RISE TO IMPROVED ENZYME CONTAINING MATERIALS TO MAKE BETTER CATALYSTS FOR EFFICIENT, LESS EXPENSIVE PRODUCTION OF FOOD AND CHEMICAL PRODUCTS.