Industrial biotechnology in Asia recent advances in biofuels and biorefinery

摘要

Even though modern biotechnology has been initiated with the production of penicillin through the development of fermentation engineering, and further barton-touched to the advent of genetic engineering via recombinant DNA technologies in the western part of the globe, biotechnology, like other cutting-edge sciences and technologies, is not new anymore but prevailing now in Asia. Especially, biofuels and biore?nery in the wave of industrial biotechnology is now blooming and so passing through its 2 nd golden age, has been drawing heavy attentions and investments in research and commercialization from not only academia, but also commercial and government sectors in Asian countries. One of the reasons why most Asian countries pay strong attention on biotechnology, especially industrial biotechnology with biofuel and biore?nery as key issues, is the need to move from a fossile-based to a bio-based economy by more ef?cient utilization of renewable resources. There are tremendous amounts of biomass or waste renewable materails waiting to be utilized in Asian countries. In order to realize the promises of bioeconomy, it is inevitable and urgent to further advance industrial biotechnology.