Biobased economies

The gradual transition towards the biobased economy brings opportunities for developing countries to leapfrog beyond the petroleum era and into a cleaner, greener and more renewable future based on biotechnology knowledge. 

Catalysis is a core technology of the current fossil fuel based economy. Over 90% of industrial chemical processes involve catalytic steps and, also, several processes in current refineries are catalytic ones. Without continuous progress and innovation in catalysis, the current pervasive oil-based economy is not possible. Similarly, catalysis technology will also have a key role in the transition to a biobased economy. The possibility of realizing this transition and to develop effective bio-refineries will depend on the progress made in developing new catalytic processes and concepts. 

Canadian Agri-Food Research Council., (2003). An assessment of the opportunities and challenges of a biobased economy for agriculture and food research in Canada, http //www.agwest.sk.ca/bioproducts/documents/ OpportunitiesandChallengesofaBio-BasedEconomy.pdf... 

The chemical and lubricant markets represent an enormous opportunity for biobased products, but many obstacles must be overcome on the way to commercialization. To gain acceptance and supplant products made from petroleum, industrial bioproducts will need to be able to compete in terms of both cost and performance advances in biotechnology will play a key role in surmounting these economic and technical barriers. Given the size of the potential markets and the considerable research under way, the future looks bright for a biobased economy. 

Erickson s vision for the future includes creating a biobased economy in which the basic building blocks for industry and raw materials for energy are derived from renewable plant sources and are processed using industrial biotechnology. According to Erickson, technologies should be developed that go beyond a simple starch-to-ethanol platform that exists now. 

So how will the biobased economy actually happen Erickson believes that radically new business models will appear that challenge traditional companies, but unique opportunities for the fast movers will be created. Companies that are early adopters of industrial biotech will gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace, said Erickson. 

Metabolic pathway engineering [125] is used to optimise the production of the required product based on the amount of substrate (usually biomass-derived) consumed. A so-called biobased economy is envisaged in which commodity chemicals (including biofuels), specialty chemicals such as vitamins, flavors and fragrances and industrial monomers will be produced in biorefineries (see Chapter 8 for a more detailed discussion). 

The transition to a biobased economy is currently in an intermediate phase where certain commodity chemicals, e.g. lactic acid, are being produced from corn starch. Ultimately, however, economically viable production of bulk chemicals and liquid fuels will only be possible from inexpensive lignocellulose, generated intentionally by cultivation of forage crops, e.g. hay, or derived from waste crop and forestry residues. 

Recent advances in molecular genetics and metabolic engineering have laid the foundations for the transition from an oil-based to a biobased economy. The one remaining bottleneck, where technological breakthroughs are still needed, is the efficient conversion of lignocellulose to lignin and (hemi)cellulose [3]. 

As discussed in Chapter 1, the aim of this book was to highlight all the areas that have to be regarded to realize the vision of a biobased economy as a sustainable industrial future based on renewable resources often is termed. The subject of the chapters was inspired by the scientific framework and the business conditions with an influence on the development of a biobased economy. Let us recapitulate the arguments from the specialist. 

Dusselier M, Van Wouwe P, Dewaele A, Makshina E, Sels BF (2013) Lactic acid as a platform chemical in the biobased economy the role of chemocatalysis. Energ Environ Sci 6 (5) 1415-1442... 

In the recent past, there have been intense efforts aimed at developing alternatives to oil-based chemicals and polymers to reduce reliance on petroleum and namral gas (Stewart 2007). Biomass is the feedstock of the biobased economy, and, in practice, this means the use of com and soybeans (for polyurethanes), although the hope is to eventually utilize agricultural and forest residues. Enzymes or microbial action are employed to convert biomass into useful chemicals and plastics. All the major plastic companies have initiated research programs in this area (Reisch 2002). 

Brehmer B, Struik PC, Sanders J. (2008). Using an energetic and exergetic life cycle analysis to assess the best applications of legumes within a biobased economy. Biomas Bioenerg, 32,1175-1186. 

Table 1.6 gives an overview of the different biorefineries and their development stage. It should be mentioned that although the sugar and starch biorefineries are in full-scale operation, their development will get a new input due to the biobased economy demands for new products and certainly for reduction of costs. Further biorefinery improvement... 

Production of a spectrum of biobased products (food, feed, materials, chemicals) and bioenergy (fuels, power, and/or heat) feeding the full biobased economy. 

Dale BE, Kim S. Biomass refining global impact - the biobased economy of the 21st century. In Kamm B, Gruber PR, Kamm M, editors. Biorefineries - industrial processes and products, status quo and future directions, vol. 1. Weinheim (Germany) Wiley-VCH 2006. p. 41—66. 

Finally, even in a biobased economy, the carbon cycle has to be closed and the end of life of biobased products has to be taken into account, especially when those sustainable products are not biodegradable. 

This chapter will analyse the main policy initiatives recently undertaken at EU level to foster the innovation capacity in Europe, reaching the goal of building a Knowledge Biobased Economy, and to favour the market entry of new and innovative biobased products. Many of the initiatives and plans adopted by the EU in the bioeconomy sector have tried to involve the main stakeholders, i.e., the industry sector (with a strong focus on small and medium-sized enterprises (SME)), European associations, European technology platforms and researchers. 

Meeusen, M.J.G. (2010) Biobased production chains in The Biobased Economy Biojuds, Materials and Chemicak in the Post-Oil Em (eds J. Sanders, H. Langeveld, and M. Meeusen), Earthscan, London, pp. 229—243. 

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