Applications of Amylase enzyme
An amylase is an enzyme that catalyses the hydrolysis of starch into sugars. Amylase is present in the saliva of humans and some other mammals, where it begins the chemical process of digestion. Foods that contain large amounts of starch but little sugar, such as rice and potatoes, may acquire a slightly sweet taste as they are chewed because amylase degrades some of their starch into sugar. The pancreas and salivary gland make amylase (alpha amylase) to hydrolyse dietary starch into disaccharides and trisaccharides which are converted by other enzymes to glucose to supply the body with energy. Plants and some bacteria also produce amylase. Specific amylase proteins are designated by different Greek letters. All amylases are glycoside hydrolases and act on α-1, 4-glycosidic bonds.
Liquefaction is a process of dispersion of insoluble starch granules in aqueous solution followed by partial hydrolysis using thermostable amylases. In industrial processes, the starch suspension for liquefaction is generally in excess of 35% (w/v). Therefore the viscosity is extremely high following gelatinization. Thermostable a-amylase is used as a thinning agent, which brings about reduction in viscosity and partial hydrolysis of starch. Retrogradation of starch is thus avoided during subsequent cooling.
Maltose is a naturally occurring disaccharide. It chemical structure has 4-O-a-D-glucopyranosyl-D-glucopyranose. It is the main component of maltosugar syrup (Sugimoto, 1977). Maltose is widely used as sweetener and also as intravenous sugar supplement. It is used in food industries because of low tendency to be crystallized and is relatively nonhygroscopic. Corn, potato, sweet potato, and cassava starches are used for maltose manufacture. The concentration of starch slurry is adjusted to be 10 – 20% for production of medical grade maltose and 20 – 40% for food grade. Thermostable a-amylase from B. licheniformis and B. amyloliquefaciens are used.
Manufacture of high fructose containing syrups
High fructose containing syrups (HFCS) 42 F (Fructose content = 42%) is prepared by enzymic isomerization of glucose with glucose isomerase. The starch is first converted to glucose by enzymic liquefaction and saccharification.
Removal of starch sizer from textile (desizing)
In textile weaving, starch paste is applied for warping. This gives strength to the textile at weaving. It also prevents the loss of string by friction, cutting and generation of static electricity on the string by giving softness to the surface of string due to laid down warp. After weaving the cloth, the starch is removed and the cloth goes to scouring and dyeing. The starch on cloth is usually removed by application of a-amylase.
Treatment of Starch Processing Waste Water (SPW)
Starch is also present in waste produced from food processing plants. Starch waste causes pollution problems. Biotechnological treatment of food processing waste water can produce valuable products such as microbial biomass protein and also purifies the effluent.
Amylases, especially alkaline amylases are used in detergents. To some extent amylases are also used as digestive aids (Beazell, 1942) to supplement the diastatic activity of flour and to improve digestibility of some of the animal feed ingredients.
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