Application of enzymes in juice clarification

Long chain polymers and aggregates are responsible for juice turbidity. Various hydrolysing enzymes have been tested to break down these chains and aggregates to improve juice clarity. The key enzymes for juice clarification are pectinases, cellulases, hemicellulases, amylases, and laccases. There are several other enzymes which are used by industry for juice clarification, such as tannase, naringinase, and xylanase. These enzymes are mainly found in higher plants and microbes. Enzymes of microbial origin are preferred to the enzymes of plants origin as they are cheap, efficient, easy to extract. Scaling-up of production of enzymes of microbial origin is considerably less challenging. Although these enzymes are more efficient in clearing up juices than the mechanical and chemical procedures, further optimisations of the factors affecting the enzymes’ performances and structural modifications of the enzymes are warranted.