Recent developments in enzyme immobilization technology for high-throughput processing in food industries.

The demand for food and beverage markets has increased as a result of population increase and in view of health awareness. The quality of products from food processing industry has to be improved economically by incorporating greener methodologies that enhances the safety and shelf life via the enzymes application while maintaining the essential nutritional qualities. The utilization of enzymes is rendered more favorable in industrial practices via the modification of their characteristics as attested by studies on enzyme immobilization pertaining to different stages of food and beverage processing; these studies have enhanced the catalytic activity, stability of enzymes and lowered the overall cost. However, the harsh conditions of industrial processes continue to increase the propensity of enzyme destabilization thus shortening their industrial lifespan namely enzyme leaching, recoverability, uncontrollable orientation and the lack of a general procedure. Innovative studies have strived to provide new tools and materials for the development of systems offering new possibilities for industrial applications of enzymes. Herein, an effort has been made to present up-to-date developments on enzyme immobilization and current challenges in the food and beverage industries in terms of enhancing the enzyme stability.

Biosensors for wastewater monitoring: A review.

Water pollution and habitat degradation are the cause of increasing water scarcity and decline in aquatic biodiversity. While the freshwater availability has been declining through past decades, water demand has continued to increase particularly in areas with arid and semi-arid climate. Monitoring of pollutants in wastewater effluents are critical to identifying water pollution area for treatment. Conventional detection methods are not effective in tracing multiple harmful components in wastewater due to their variability along different times and sources. Currently, the development of biosensing instruments attracted significant attention because of their high sensitivity, selectivity, reliability, simplicity, low-cost and real-time response. This paper provides a general overview on reported biosensors, which have been applied for the recognition of important organic chemicals, heavy metals, and microorganisms in dark waters. The significance and successes of nanotechnology in the field of biomolecular detection are also reviewed. The commercially available biosensors and their main challenges in wastewater monitoring are finally discussed.