Vol. 10, Special Issue 1, Part L (2026)

Biocatalysis has rapidly evolved into a vital part of modern industrial processes that are enabled by technology and sustainable methods when compared to legacy chemical catalysis. Enzymes achieve remarkable chemo-, regio-, and stereoselectivity, yet their utility in varied industrial processes is frequently limited due to restrictions and weaknesses related to: (1) instability under reaction conditions, (2) limited substrate specificity, and (3) challenges with recovery and reuse. Recent innovations towards producing biocatalysts performance enhancements through enzyme engineering, stabilization, and immobilization developments have contributed to the transformational capacities biocatalysis systems. These developments are both theoretical and practical, with advances in protein engineering, e.g., rational design, directed evolution, chimeric, bifunctional, and semi-synthetic enzymes, representing the development of natural enzymes into novel catalytically-active proteins. In addition, immobilization technologies of state-of-the-art carriers, cross-linked enzyme aggregates, and co-factor recycling of enzymes improved enzyme stability and active life. Synthetic biology has developed ways to establish optimized microbial hosts, and artificial pathways for high-yielding enzyme production, along with cell-free systems for high scale biotransformation’s, and biotransformation’s of high-value products and processes. Finally, unprecedented tools of information technologies, e.g., molecular modeling, artificial intelligence, machine learning, bioinformatics, etc., are rationalizing enzyme discovery and design and predictive optimization. In total, their improvements will produce next-generation biocatalysts suitable for wide-ranging industrial uses, including pharmaceuticals, food and beverages, biofuels, textiles, and environmental clean-up. This review summarizes current advances, industrial relevance, and future outlooks of enzyme-based biocatalysis for sustainable industrial biotechnology.