Green Chemistry, Biocatalysis, and the Chemical Industry of the Future

Abstract

In the movement to decarbonize our economy and move away from fossil fuels we will need to harness the waste products of our activities, such as waste lignocellulose, methane, and carbon dioxide. Our wastes need to be integrated into a circular economy where used products are recycled into a manufacturing carbon cycle. Key to this will be the recycling of plastics at the resin and monomer levels. Biotechnology is well suited to a future chemical industry that must adapt to widely distributed and diverse biological chemical feedstocks. Our increasing mastery of biotechnology is allowing us to develop enzymes and organisms that can synthesize a widening selection of desirable bulk chemicals, including plastics, at commercially viable productivities. Integration of bioreactors with electrochemical systems will permit new production opportunities with enhanced productivities and the advantage of using a low‐carbon electricity from renewable and sustainable sources.

Biocatalysis as Key to Sustainable Industrial Chemistry

“…-developing scalable electro-and photobiocatalysis. [44] -further developing IT tools and parallelized reactor set-ups for prospective LCA analyses to enable early stage fact based route selections [71] instead of estimations and experiences.…”

“…to enable their recycling in the same quality and for the same polymer application. developing redox cofactor regeneration based on hydrogen or electricity for bulk chemical production that exceeds the ones established for fine and pharma chemicals in atom and cost efficiency. developing broad, reliable and scalable biocatalytic reaction platforms, including non‐conventional reaction media beyond aqueous systems. developing faster and more generic molecular and engineering methods to stabilize enzyme classes to the level of lipases and proteases for the challenging conditions in low‐cost applications. integrating biocatalysis into synthesis route planning and total synthesis in organic chemistry (retrosynthetic biocatalysis) [68–70] interfacing the molecular and engineering aspects, product recovery and purification and raw material utilization towards overall sustainable processes in industrial chemistry. developing biocatalysis in flow for more efficient, more cost‐effective processing. developing scalable electro‐ and photobiocatalysis [44] further developing IT tools and parallelized reactor set‐ups for prospective LCA analyses to enable early stage fact based route selections [71] instead of estimations and experiences. …”

“…Both whole‐cell and cell‐free biocatalysis are essential components of the envisaged defossilization of chemicals manufacture in the drive to a circular, carbon‐neutral economy [44] . Biocatalysis will flourish in future biorefineries where carbohydrates, not hydrocarbons, will be the base chemicals.…”

“…Both whole-cell and cell-free biocatalysis are essential components of the envisaged defossilization of chemicals manufacture in the drive to a circular, carbon-neutral economy. [44] Biocatalysis will flourish in future biorefineries where carbohydrates, not hydrocarbons, will be the base chemicals. It will be used in the initial conversion of, for example, polysaccharide feedstocks into fermentable sugars and in downstream processing of carbohydrate intermediates.…”

Effect of Binding Modules Fused to Cutinase on the Enzymatic Synthesis of Polyesters

“…Biocatalysts were evolved towards the needs of nature as versatile catalysts but, in most cases, they do not match the current needs of industrial biotechnology processes [2]. One of the current most growing fields of interest is, without a doubt, the application of biocatalysts for the processing of natural and synthetic polymers, in particular polyesters [3,4]. These environmentally friendly catalysts can work under mild conditions, enabling both the surface functionalization of the polymer and its decomposition to constitutive monomers, which could in turn be used for a subsequent re-polymerization closing the carbon cycle.…”