Industrial production of enzymes for the feed industry

Enzymes are used commercially in the animal feed industry to improve animal performance and the fuel ethanol industry for optimization of ethanol production. Most of the enzymes are produced from microbial sources using submerged liquid fermentation (SLF) technologies. Enzymes produced using solid state fermentation technology have advantages in the animal feed and fuel ethanol industries. The medium used consists of an unrefined agricultural product that can be dried ground and feed to the animal. The nature of the substrate also results in production of a number of additional side activities that provide improved performance for enzyme preparation produced using SSF technologies. Another positive aspect of SSF has been the production of organisms. The microorganisms used tend to be nongenetically modified fungal organisms. These benefits have resulted in the development of SSF facilities for the industrial production of enzymes. The commercial production of enzymes using SSF technologies will be discussed.