Top Trends in Enzyme Manufacturing

Vishal Pratap Singh

The market for enzymes is expected to expand at a CAGR of more than 6 percent by the year 2027. The major factors that are driving this market are growing diversity in enzyme applications and niche products and the strict environmental norms that are curbing the use of chemicals. Also, there has been an increasing demand for food enzymes, increasing demand for cosmetics and personal care products and surge in production of biofuel are some of the primary factors that are boosting the growth of enzyme market.

Focus on Natural & Innovative Flavours

The food industry all across the world is continuously involved in developing new dairy products, beverages, and food items for consumers. “It is seen that with the development of new products in the food and beverage industry, the application of enzymes in the industry has continuously increased”, says Muhammed Majeed, Founder & Chairman at Sami Sabinsa Group. With this increasing innovation and development of technologies in the food industry, industrial enzymes have found extensive application in fat modification and sweetener technology which ultimately drives the industrial enzyme market.

There has been an increase in demand for higher quality foods which contains natural flavour and taste. This trend has become very common between the consumers and has triggered the need for the development of flavoured and tasty processed foods by using industrial enzyme applications. The major reason behind this is that enzymes act as catalysts by playing important roles in the breaking down of vitamins and nutrients in the metabolic reactions and inter conversion of complex molecules to smaller molecules.

Cosmetics Products

Over the years, the applications of enzymes in cosmetics have been continuously increased. Enzymes are used as free radical scavengers in sunscreen cream, mouthwashes, toothpaste, hair- waving and dyeing. Enzymes derived from pumpkins are used in cosmetics for smooth skin. Enzymes have low molecular weight and so they get absorbed into the skin when applied topically. Yet another advantage is that they are stable and can be easily introduced in skincare creams and formulations.

Capturing Fast-food Market

The country has seen the booming trend of fast-food in the recent years. It has augmented the trade of cheese, indirectly impacting the market of protease food enzyme. According to a survey conducted by Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, one out of three Indians consumed a meal at fast-food eateries on any given day.

Rapid Increase in Biotechnology

Another major trend that is disrupting the enzyme market is technological development for the production of enzymes from genetically engineered organisms. The rapid development in biotechnology has generated many enzymes operational for the baking industry. Also, the increasing range of products is augmenting the exploitation of numerous untapped sectors, augmenting opportunities to be capitalized upon by the food enzymes market.

Shift towards Genetically Manufactured Enzymes

Enzymes, as proteins, are not genetically engineered as their host organism but the industry is expected to shift towards genetically manufactured enzymes. There are many kinds of tools available from the biotechnology studies which show a tremendous impact on cost, specificity of an enzyme and manufacturing efficiency in future. Researchers perform abundant researches to find the new applications of prevailing enzymes for detailed nutritional benefits.

As the demand of natural products is pacing up, the imperatives of enzymes is probably going to increase outpacing chemical additives. Industry experts are predicting that the importance of enzymes is likely to increase as consumers are opting for more natural products. For example, enzymes can be employed to substitute potassium bromate, a chemical additive that has been banned in various countries.

Increased Consumption of Beer

In the last two decades, the consumption of beer has increased all around the world. This increased consumption came up as a trend on which the enzyme market is profitably capitalizing. All the major enzymes such as amylases, proteases and cellulase are crucial for beer production process. Being an integral part of beer production, enzymes are set to capitalise over increasing beer production as it is consumed a lot by today’s population on the name of party culture and weekends.

Enzymes are also used as feed additives in the animal feed industry. Phytase, protease, and carbohydrase are used extensively in the animal feed industry. Market participants are looking for backward integration by using suitable microorganisms such as bacteria, yeast, fungi and further use those for the production on a commercial scale.

Future Perspectives

Enzymes are going to contribute more in environmentally adapted clean and green technology due to its biodegradable nature and replace harsh chemicals. Future trend may be the development of more effective systems that use much smaller quantities of chemicals, less water, and less energy to attain maximum product yield and performance. Also, new enzymes through modern biotechnology will lead to enzyme products with improved effects at diverse physiological condition such as low or high pH and temperatures. It will ultimately allow various industrial processes to carry out at low temperatures, less harm to the environment, greater efficiency, lower costs, lower energy consumption etc.