Question: If you could invent a new invention with enzymes,what would it be.

Luke Williams answered on 10 Jun 2016:

I think it would have to be a new method of using enzymes. A typical industrial reaction using enzymes is in the form of a batch reaction – all the ingredients are put into a container, like a bowl with a lid basically, and mixed until the reaction is done. Once the reaction is finished, the products are separated and removed.

This is a pretty wasteful process usually, and the enzymes are often thrown out afterwards. There has been a lot of work developing continuous processes, but they aren’t quite there yet. In this system, the enzymes are kept in the container, with new starting materials continuously added, and products continuously removed.

One of the biggest issues currently is how to stick the enzymes to something, to keep them in the container. Beads are a quite common method for this, as the beads are big enough to see and capture.

Eventually it might be possible to run a reaction with many different types of enzymes all stuck to different beads, and it is this type of system that I would like to invent – new systems for making things more efficiently.