Industrial Applications of Immobilized Cells

Although the application of the natural attraction of many microorganisms to surfaces has been applied in vinegar production since the early 1980s, and has long been utilized in waste water purification, the development of microbial cell immobilization techniques for special applications dates back only to the early 1960s. The immobilization may involve whole cells, cell fragments, or lysed cells. Whole cells may retain their metabolic activity with their complex multienzyme systems and cofactor regeneration mechanisms intact, or they may be killed in the process with only a few desired enzymes remaining active in the final biocatalyst. Cells may also be coimmobilized with an enzyme to carry out special reactions. Although relatively few industrial scale applications exist today, some are of very large scale. Current applications vary from relatively small scale steroid conversions to amino acid production and high fructose syrup manufacture. A vast number of potential applications are already known, and one of the most interesting applications may be in continuous fermentation such as ethanol production by immobilized living microorganisms. 373 references.