ABSTRACT
Since 1970, when Subtilisin Carlsberg under the trade name Alcalase was the dominating protease, further basic molecules were successful in the market such as the alkaline subtilisin BPN, and the high alkaline subtilisin 309, also known as Savinase™. In the 1990s, a broad range of modifications of these backbones were developed by the increasing number of technologies for gene modification and screening. Other enzyme activities were added to the list of detergent enzymes, including amylases, lipases, cellulases, and hemicellulases, which, however, could never compete with proteases as the major workhorse for stain removal. The availability
and use of recombinant DNA technology for the first time allowed the production of some of these enzymes in on an economic scale.Also in the 1990s the formula of automatic dish wash detergents were adjusted to allow the use of enzymes, that lead to further substantial effects in reduction of weight, to the development of new products (tablets) and improved performance. The automatic dish wash detergents normally contain proteases and amylases that are essential for removal of protein and starch containing stains.Many of these developments were only possible due to dramatic improvements in the bacterial or fungal production systems, many of those enabled by genetic engineering technology. Another application of this technology led to improvement and differentiation of the enzymes by the spectrum of methods called protein engineering or enzyme engineering (see Chapters 2, 3, and 4).During the past decade, detergent enzymes have become a synonym for the so-called industrial or white biotechnology, since every consumer has them at home, can see and feel the effects, has been informed about their benefits in sustainability, and thus is profiting from their effects. The primary benefit for the consumer can be seen in low-temperature washing performance, which allows to save money for heating energy. The reduction of chemicals is appreciated as well, even when the benefits are more obvious in life cycle assessments (Chapter 1) where the reduction of consumption of chemicals is correlated with reduced amount of packaging, and the reduced consumption of transportation energy. Thus, detergent enzymes contribute significantly to an improvement of the carbon footprint or climate heating potential of modern laundry or dish wash detergents.There is a range of academic reviews of the topic, e.g., by Kumar et al. (2008) but the problem remains that the most relevant information is not available from scientific publications and sometime not even from patent literature. Therefore, this review is to a major part built on practical experience and information that was collected in the market. 26.2 MarketThe global market for detergent enzymes can be estimated at approximately 700 million euros. The company Novozymes (former
Novo Industri and Novo Nordisk) has a market share of about 66%, DuPont Industrial Biosciences (former Genencor, Dansico-Genencor) has most of the remaining share. Apart from those two dominant players in the market, there is Kao Corp. in Japan, who is producing enzymes for captive use, and KDN in China and AB Enzymes in Germany/Finland supplying specific detergent enzymes.The market share of detergent proteases can be estimated at 72% of the global detergent enzymes market. Thus, the volume of detergent proteases in 2013 is in the range of 500 million euros. So far, practically all this business can be attributed to proteases that are produced with Bacillus production strains.The primary customers to these suppliers are big consumer products companies in the field of laundry and home care such as Procter & Gamble, Unilever, Henkel, Reckitt-Benckiser, Kao, Lion, and many others. Some of these detergent companies have a clearly defined strategy in their way of applying and marketing new enzymes and their effects. Apart from consumer products, detergent proteases are also used in products for the industrial and institutional (I&I) markets. The application conditions in those applications are different in the sense that the water used is often pretreated (softened and preheated). 26.3 Protease Products and MoleculesAbout 10 years ago according to the HERA project (www.heraproject.com, 2004) 800 tons of theoretical pure active substance protease has been used in detergents in the European Union and in 2010 the detergent protease subtilisin was one of only two enzymes to be registered according to REACH chemical law in Europe, due to a production of dry matter that was higher than 1000 tons/year. Thus, the global consumption can be estimated at 2400 tons of pure active substance. Consequently, the detergent proteases can be considered as one of the enzymes produced in the highest tonnage. Based on an assumption of the detergent enzyme market at 770 million euros per year and a market share of the proteases at 72% (see Fig. 26.1), the value of this enzyme class can be estimated at 555 million euros per year. This estimation is supported by the value of USD 660 million for Bacillus-derived detergent enzymes from Outtrup and Jørgensen (2002).
