Enzyme engineering is the application of modifying an enzyme's structure (and thus its function) or modifying the catalytic activity of isolated enzyme

Enzyme

Enzymes are proteins that catalyze chemical reactions. In enzymatic reactions, the molecules at the beginning of the process, called substrates, are converted into different molecules, called products. Almost all chemical reactions in a biological cell need enzymes in order to occur at rates...

s to produce new metabolites, to allow new (catalyzed) pathways for reactions to occur, or to convert from some certain compounds into others (biotransformation

Biotransformation

Biotransformation is the chemical modification made by an organism on a chemical compound. If this modification ends in mineral compounds like CO2, NH4+, or H2O, the biotransformation is called mineralisation....

). These products will be useful as chemicals, pharmaceuticals, fuel, food or agricultural additives.

An enzyme reactor consists of a vessel containing a reactional medium that is used to perform a desired conversion by enzymatic means. Enzymes used in this process are free in the solution.