Article originally from American Chemistry magazine

Driven by soaring energy prices, renewed environmental concerns regarding climate change, forecasts of dwindling petroleum supplies, and escalating raw material costs as a consequence of global competition, "industrial biotechnology" is now being discussed with increased frequency as the future of the chemical manufacturing industry.

Industrial biotechnology—also known as "white biotechnology"—is the modern use of living cells and/or their enzymes to create "bioproducts" from renewable resources, as an alternative to traditional petrochemical manufacturing. The process is rapidly being adapted to produce everything from alternative fuels and plastics to medicines and could help achieve substantial benefits for industry, the environment, and consumers.

Recent breakthroughs in genomics, molecular genetics, metabolic engineering, and catalysis, coupled with advances in enzyme and fermentation technology, have turned the promise of a few years ago into a developing reality today. Cells can be designed for use as micro-factories, optimized to use biomass as a feedstock and to deliver a variety of new materials, with appealing benefits in terms of energy efficiency, increased productivity, safety, and the environment.

Succinic acid
By the end of 2009, it is expected that a commercially viable product manufactured through industrial biotechnology will come out of a plant built in Lestrem, France. Succinic acid—a molecule that can be used in cosmetics, in medicines, as an antioxidant in foods, in automotive materials, and in plastics—will be created using microorganisms instead of the current feedstock, crude oil.

The current production method is expensive, resulting in low product sales. Succinic acid created by microorganisms presents a more commercially interesting option.

The advantages are not only economic, but also environmental. In contrast to the chemical production method that releases carbon dioxide (CO₂), the new process actually uses CO₂. This makes it a truly "green" route for production, allowing subsequent users of the acid to label and market their own products as such. The production method is CO₂-neutral—or possibly even CO₂-negative.

Succinic acid manufacturing through industrial biotechnology is an early large-scale pilot project. Material sciences company DSM is collaborating with starch and derivatives provider Roquette to set up the plant in 2009. If all goes well, it may lead to the world’s first commercially viable chemical product obtained through a biological route.

Biofuels
Traditional biofuels include biodiesel, produced from rapeseed oil or sunflower oil, and ethanol, produced from sugar cane, sugar beets, or corn. These first-generation or "Wave 1" biofuels have seen some controversy lately concerning the ethics and economic viability of using food to create fuel.

Second-generation or "Wave 2" biofuels will not be generated from potential food sources, but instead from plant waste and other "lowvalue" biomass. Feedstocks such as corn stover, switchgrass, and elephant grass are being studied in relation to cellulosic lignostic enzyme technology that may lead to commercial quantities of these new fuels.

With a $10-million U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) grant awarded in February 2008, as well as other grants for a total of $35 million, various companies are now working together to develop second-generation biofuels. A sustainable path forward will help create new "green collar" jobs.

Dealing with scarcity
Fermentation of microorganisms requires water and carbon sources. Switching from traditional chemical production to biotechnological processes may hold much promise, but it also means the present scarcity of crude oil is traded for a shortage of sugar, starch, and other carbon sources in the future. Until this dilemma is resolved, there can be no expedient transition from petrochemistry to biochemistry.

The real challenge for industrial biotechnology is to find breakthroughs that will make it possible to solve this raw materials problem. At present, microorganisms can be grown only on the basis of sugar or starch (e.g. sugarcane or corn), but this is not a sustainable business practice. Prices of these raw materials will rise uncontrollably as large companies embrace the market for, in particular, bio-based fuels.

The large-scale use of these types of carbon sources will inevitably lead to scarcity in the global food market. Even now, in the initial phase of this industry’s growth, there have been occasional instances of fierce corn and sugar price speculation.

Bamboo is being considered as a source of "Wave 2" biotechnology materials.

For these reasons, industry, government, and research institutes are working intensively to develop Wave 2 technology. The search is on to develop an efficient way to recover sugar from current waste materials, such as corn stover and cane residue. Another potential solution is to cultivate crops that grow fast and provide high yields, such as elephant grass or bamboo, that can be grown on soils that are unsuitable for normal agricultural crops.

In theory, these crops can be used as carbon sources. There are already proprietary enzymes that make it possible to pre-treat cellulose from plant waste.

Collaborative partnerships between companies and institutes worldwide are very important to such strategies. Much more research and development (R&D) will be required before industrial biotechnology can transform from the "chemistry of the future" to the "chemistry of today."

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