Chapter 4 - Effect of high-pressure processing on the kinetic parameters of enzymes

Abstract

Enzymes play a very vital role in biological systems and hence are exploited intensively for industrial applications. Lability of these enzymes to heat and other extreme conditions poses a great disadvantage. High pressure as a “green” technology has been investigated in recent times to improve the activity of these enzymes. Similarly, high pressure is a well-established technique for the inactivation of undesirable enzymes in food systems. Therefore, a constant competition between inactivation and enhancement in activity can be observed in high-pressure processing of enzymes. In such a scenario, kinetic modeling can come to the rescue and help in predicting and modeling the activity of these enzymes at different operating pressures and temperatures during high-pressure processing of enzymes. Primary kinetic models describing the rates and secondary models dealing with the variation of these rates with external process parameters such as pressure and temperature have been extensively discussed and reviewed in this chapter.