Hardly any other term in the ? eld of biotechnologyhas been the subject of so muchdiscussionamongexpertsaswhitebiotechnologyatpresent. Thistermis an alias for industrial biotechnology, an already established heavyweight that focuses on the production of the most diverse products (bulk and ? ne chemicals, enzymes, food and animal feed additives, pharmaceutically active substances and agrochemicals, auxiliary agents for processindustries, etc.). Insomesegments, whitebiotechnologyhasalreadycapturedleadingmarket positions: In recent years the annual biotechnological production of amino acids exceeded one million tons. Invitaminproductiontherehavebeen several recent casesofachangeover from a chemical to a biotechnological synthesis process, a trend that is expected to increase. During the last 10 years the market volume for enzymes has increased by 50%. The successful launch of polylactide marked white biotechnology s bre- throughinto the ? eld ofpolymers and synthetics. Today crude oil is the most important energy source and the most widely used chemical raw material. Both primary industry and polymer chemistry currently depend to a great extent on oil. However, it is only a matter of time beforetheworld soilreservesaredepleted. Almostallstudiespresentedtodate agreethatpeakoil, i. e. thepointintimewhenoilextractionreachesitshighest level, will take place in the ? rst half of the present century. The increasingly dif? cultdevelopmentofnewsourcesofoilhavetriggeredinitiativesworldwide to reduce national dependence on oil imports.
Inhaltsverzeichnis
Raw Materials. - Screening Systems. - Industrial Enzymes. - Building Blocks. - Biorefineries Multi Product Processes. - Enabling Technologies: Fermentation and Downstream Processing. - Future Aspects of Bioprocess Monitoring.
