Bacterial proteases in detergents (Alcalase)
Proteasas bacterianas en detergentes (Alcalase)
- Date
- 1960-1963 · confidence medium
- Place
- Bagsværd, Gladsaxe, Denmark
- Credited to
- Novo Industri (Novozymes)
- Field
- Life & health
What it is
Novo produced in fermenters the subtilisin of Bacillus licheniformis (Alcalase), active in alkaline medium, and sold it as a detergent additive. It was the first large market for an industrial enzyme and the basis of the enzyme industry.
Alcalase was launched around 1960; the first enzyme detergent (Biotex) dates from 1963 and Gist-Brocades and Novo enzymes were already competing. The date and the relative share of each company vary by source.
What it led to
- biological detergents with proteases, lipases and amylases
- protein engineering applied to subtilisins and stable enzymes
- industrial enzymes industry (Novozymes, Genencor)