Enzymes for low temperature washing

The increasing use of synthetic fibers which cannot tolerate temperatures above 50–60 C has changed the washing habits during the past 5–10 years toward the use of lower washing temperatures. Furthermore, the energy crisis has focused interest on washing at ambient temperatures for the purpose of saving energy. In order to compensate for the lower washing efficiency at decreased temperatures, enzyme producers have devoted much R&D capacity to screen for new proteolytic enzymes which are more suitable for washing at lower temperatures. The result of a screening program carried out for several years, a new detergent protease with interesting characteristics, is discussed.