Preface
This book is devoted to specific natural and artificial systems that are promising
biocatalysts in the areas of health, agriculture, environment and energy. It provides
a comprehensive account of the state of the art of selected systems and presents an
overview of the significant progress made in the last decade to develop innovative,
sustainable and environmentally friendly solutions. The potential use of enzymes
for solving humankind’s problems is discussed, as well as the key role they play in
these processes. Nowadays, we understand well how enzymes work, in terms of
structure and function. They are fragile structures made of long chains of amino
acids that build up the active sites (with or without metals) and speed reactions and
introduce selectivity. A wide range of reactions are carried out at room temperatures
and in water, the biological solvent. They participate in a broad range of applications, from environmental to energy industries, chemical transformations, fertilisers,
food processing and other significant market niches.
Fifteen chapters in this book provide important and inspiring accounts on the
role of enzymes, with a lesson and a message: complex systems, such as the ones
here described, can only be unrevealed by the multidisciplinary effort and consortia
of many branches of science. During the last years, the ubiquitous utilisation of
enzymes has dramatically improved our quality of life, by many relevant scientific
discoveries and inventions. Enzymes for solving humankind’s problems is a
challenge, a vast and actual topic, resulting in the curiosity and the motivation of
scientists to make scientific research advances and turn fundamental into applied
research. The chapters, here reunited and written by experts, are aligned into four
main axes, “Planet Under Carbon Attack” (Part One), “Nitrogen, Too Much of a
Vital Resource” (Part Two), “Bio-powering the Future” (Part Three) and “Making
Use of Biological Assets” (Part Four), and explore how natural enzymes and
artificial systems tackle specific targets such as: climate change, carbon footprint
and economy and carbon dioxide utilisation; nitrogen footprint and fixation and
nitrous oxide mitigation; hydrogen production, fuel cells and energy from bacteria;
biomass transformation and production of added-value compounds, as well as
biosensor development.
Climate change, carbon footprint and economy and CO 2 conversion into
added-value compounds are the opening topics of this book. Julia Seixas and
Francisco Ferreira (Chapter “Carbon Economy and Carbon Footprint”) made an
v
This book is devoted to specific natural and artificial systems that are promising
biocatalysts in the areas of health, agriculture, environment and energy. It provides
a comprehensive account of the state of the art of selected systems and presents an
overview of the significant progress made in the last decade to develop innovative,
sustainable and environmentally friendly solutions. The potential use of enzymes
for solving humankind’s problems is discussed, as well as the key role they play in
these processes. Nowadays, we understand well how enzymes work, in terms of
structure and function. They are fragile structures made of long chains of amino
acids that build up the active sites (with or without metals) and speed reactions and
introduce selectivity. A wide range of reactions are carried out at room temperatures
and in water, the biological solvent. They participate in a broad range of applications, from environmental to energy industries, chemical transformations, fertilisers,
food processing and other significant market niches.
Fifteen chapters in this book provide important and inspiring accounts on the
role of enzymes, with a lesson and a message: complex systems, such as the ones
here described, can only be unrevealed by the multidisciplinary effort and consortia
of many branches of science. During the last years, the ubiquitous utilisation of
enzymes has dramatically improved our quality of life, by many relevant scientific
discoveries and inventions. Enzymes for solving humankind’s problems is a
challenge, a vast and actual topic, resulting in the curiosity and the motivation of
scientists to make scientific research advances and turn fundamental into applied
research. The chapters, here reunited and written by experts, are aligned into four
main axes, “Planet Under Carbon Attack” (Part One), “Nitrogen, Too Much of a
Vital Resource” (Part Two), “Bio-powering the Future” (Part Three) and “Making
Use of Biological Assets” (Part Four), and explore how natural enzymes and
artificial systems tackle specific targets such as: climate change, carbon footprint
and economy and carbon dioxide utilisation; nitrogen footprint and fixation and
nitrous oxide mitigation; hydrogen production, fuel cells and energy from bacteria;
biomass transformation and production of added-value compounds, as well as
biosensor development.
Climate change, carbon footprint and economy and CO 2 conversion into
added-value compounds are the opening topics of this book. Julia Seixas and
Francisco Ferreira (Chapter “Carbon Economy and Carbon Footprint”) made an
v