Chitin and chitosan-based support materials for enzyme immobilization and biotechnological applications

Enzymes of industrial importance are primarily employed for biotechnological applications. However, high-cost and instability issues of purified enzymes hamper their usage. Multiple reuses rather than the single use is more cost-effective. A robuster bioprocess is feasible by enzyme immobilization. Performance of immobilized enzymes depends on the nature of support materials. Chitin and its derivatives-based supports offer stability and cost-effective bioprocessing. Chitosan is biocompatible, biodegradable, non-toxic and has multiple functional groups. A variety of supports such as chitosan, chitosan film, chitosan nanoparticle and chitosan nanocomposite are employed for enzyme immobilization. Chitosan bound enzymes, as compared to free enzymes, have improved the biocatalytic performances due to exceptionally high operational stability and reusability. Here we review enzymes immobilized on chitin/chitosan supporting materials with applications ranging from agriculture to drug delivery.