Chemistry gets a biology boost
This week the EU Commission announced the industry led technology platform on sustainable chemistry which brings together the leading chemical industries with the new emerging biotechnology sector.
"Today we recognise that there are several life science revolutions taking place and that biotechnology has an important contribution to make to a sustainable and competitive chemical industry. The 1500 new biotech companies that base their research in life sciences are creating a new knowledge based bio-economy," says Johan Vanhemelrijck, Secretary General of EuropaBio, the European association for bioindustries.
This new Technology Platform is an initiative by CEFIC, the European Chemical Industry Council, and EuropaBio. The platform will be a multi-stakeholder forum, involving other industrial stakeholders such as the textile industry, detergents, the pulp and paper industries, and is designed to develop a European strategic research agenda and carry out joint research projects.
Industrial Biotechnology or 'white biotech' is a multidisciplinary technology, which can be used to produce goods on an industrial scale, while respecting the environment and has shown to be good for people, planet and profit. The technology uses all the tricks that life and nature provide to produce goods like antibiotics, detergents, plastics and fuels.
Six different bioprocesses were submitted to the environmental scrutiny of independent peer reviewers, among them the Oeko-Institute from Freiburg, a scientific institute with a high reputation among environmentalists. Using a bioprocess to produce antibiotics was shown to result in a 65% reduction in materials and energy use while making a 50% cost saving.
In the case of Vitamin B2, an 8 step chemical process can be reduced to a one step fermentation process, saving 40% on costs and reducing environmental impact by the same amount. "This technology is helping to improve the quality of life in a sustainable society. We are just seeing the beginning of the positive impact of improved life science knowledge," says Johan Vanhemelrijck. "The biotechnology industry is also using biomass to produce bio-energy, bio-plastics, bio-textiles, which means it also has the potential to become a new client for agriculture."
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