Enzymes applied in sweeteners production

As highly specific, able to operate under mild conditions, and environmentally friendly, enzymes are green catalysts perfectly tailored to fit sweeteners production requirements. Accordingly, enzymes were centerfold in the design of processes for the industrial production of sweeteners. Among these, the most well-known are starch-derived caloric sweeteners, most notably the production of so-called high-fructose corn syrup, a fully based multistep and multipot enzyme process implemented in the late 1960s, which remains to date the largest commercial process anchored on the use of an immobilized enzyme. Other classic examples, albeit in a minor scale, include the production of invert syrup and fructose syrups from inulin. Growing concerns related to the impact of caloric sweeteners in public health resulted in the emergence of low-calorie sweeteners, such as allulose and tagatose, where again enzymes play a pivotal role in the production processes. Additionally, increasingly strict environmental policies are promoting the development of sustainable production processes. Research related to the production of sweeteners has not eluded this trend, and several approaches have been suggested, such as those involving the valorization of lactose-rich dairy waste streams. This work aims to provide an updated critical perspective on the current state of the art of enzymatic-based processes for sweetener production with some focus on the use of residue/waste streams as raw materials, highlighting challenges and opportunities of this approach toward the development of sustainable processes for sweetener production.