Process of enzymatic conversion of polysaccharides

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The B.
megaterium is preferably that strain deposited in the National Collection of Industrial Bacteria, Aberdeen, Scotland, under the designation NCIB No.
11568.
The enzyme used in the process of the invention is capable of catalyzing the conversion of polysaccharides of different composition.
Thus, although its prime commercial use is in the conversion of starch or partial starch hydrolyzates to a monosaccharide or to polysaccharides of lower molecular weight, it will also catalyze the conversion of pullulan, the product being almost entirely the trisaccharide, panose.
Unlike other enzymes with alpha-amylase activity, the B.
megaterium enzyme will also catalyze the hydrolysis of cyclodextrins to a product which ultimately consists largely of dextrose, maltose and maltotriose.
A particularly significant use of the B.
megaterium enzyme is in a process to produce dextrose syrups from starch or starch hydrolyzates in which the hydrolysis reaction is catalyzed by a glucoamylase.
The reaction conditions are chosen such that the B.
megaterium enzyme and glucoamylase may be used together at the same time in the same medium.
In particular, the B.
megaterium alpha-amylase active enzyme may be added to a conventional saccharification reaction in which the feedstock is an aqueous dispersion of a maltodextrin or a liquefied starch and the hydrolytic enzyme a glucoamylase with the following unexpected advantages: (a) For a given amount of glucoamylase, the saccharification time may be reduced or for a given saccharification time, the amount of glucoamylase used may be reduced.
(b) A higher concentration of dissolved solids in the feedstock may be used (up to 10 wt % more) to get a product with the same dextrose concentration.
Alternatively or concomitantly, there may be produced from a feedstock with a standard concentration of dissolved solids or a feedstock with slightly increased dissolved solids, a product with an increased dextrose concentration (increased by 0