The enzyme immobilization: Carriers and immobilization methods

Abstract

Strategies based on the enzyme application are increasingly replacing the conventional chemical procedures because of their efficiency, quicker performance and environmental protection. However, natural enzymes can rarely be used in industry since their beneficial features cannot endure the industrial conditions. Additional drawbacks of natural enzymes are their inhibition by reaction products and difficulty to be removed from the reaction mixture. The most promising technique to substantially improve the enzyme properties, such as activity, pH, thermal and organic-solvent stability, reusability and storage stability, in non-natural environments is by the enzyme immobilization. In this review different techniques used to immobilize enzymes to inert carriers were summarized. Different materials of both the organic and inorganic origin were used as carriers for the enzyme immobilization. A class of new materials where the enzyme performance was enhanced by combining different classical materials and shaping in specific forms was also summarized.