People in the Bio-Economy 2044: Sustainability, Closed Circles, and Use of Biomass Woven into Solutions.

摘要

Microorganisms are ‘cell factories’ that metabolize sugars into new compounds. Microbes, single cell or multicellular living organisms can be engineered so that their metabolic reactions produce the desired chemical compounds very selectively and with high yields. In the future, these ‘cell factories’ could enable the production of the majority of the industrial chemicals which today are oilbased (Figure 3). Some well-known examples of cell factories include the production of alcohol using live yeasts and of antibiotics using moulds. Exploiting microbes in this manner is nothing new, but what makes cell factories revolutionary are the new technologies boosting efficiency and product potential, along with the ability to control the outcome of these biological processes very precisely. What they offer is an environmentally sustainable way to add value. These processes can be used to add value to a range of industrial side-streams that today are treated as waste.