Enzyme Immobilisation:

The use of enzymes as catalysts  is well known in a number of  industries,  such as baking or wine making. But punfied enzymes are soluble in water. It  is, therefore, not easy to remove them from the final product. Further, it  is difficult  to re-use them. Thus, enzyme activity is lost in one cycle of  the chemical reaction. These difficulties  led to the development in  the late 1960s of  immobilised enzymes. The trick is to link an enzyme chemically to a  large molecule, such as gelatin.  It can then be used as a catalyst, and it can be extracted with the large molecule, for use once again. Immobilised enzymes have been successfully used  in the production of semi-synthetic  penicillin and in  the large scale production of fructose  from maize. Fructose is sweeter than glucose, yet it has the same calorific value and is used as a low calorie sweetener.