Biotechnological production economic feasibility

Genomic and molecular tools have made great impacts on plant biotechnology and offer potential for manipulation of carotenoids as natural colorants and also for applications in human and animal health. While microbial and other non-plant systems have been successfully used, plant modification eliminates need for expensive bioreactors and offers economically feasible opportunities for less developed nations for production of nutraceuticals and other chemical products. 

In theory, all impurities should be eliminated. In practice, it is generally not economically feasible to totally eliminate all impurities. However, the levels of all impurities should be controlled to provide a consistent product. In most cases, only low levels of impurities should be allowed, but in rare cases, even quite high levels of impurities are tolerated. In some cases, for example, biotechnology derived products such as macrocyclic antibiotics, or extracts of a botanical source such as some dietary supplements, the drug substance or active component contains multiple compounds, all of which have biological activity. However, only organic impurities, which include residual solvents in the drug substance, are addressed in this chapter. 

In situ extraction for the enhanced production of secondary compounds can be applied in bioreactors. In bioreactor systems low productivity is an important bottleneck, and only a few products are potential candidates for economically feasible production of secondary metabolites using plant cell biotechnology. Several approaches to increase the productivity of secondary metabolites in bioreactors have been made [12]. Among them elicitation and in situ extraction are typical techniques of current interest. Application of these techniques to cell culture systems sometimes increased the productivity to such an extent that they have sometimes been viewed as the gateway to commercial success [10]. However, general rules or suggestions concerning these techniques cannot be made because of the different characteristics of the cell culture systems. 

The economic feasibility of a bioreaction process clearly depends on the characteristics of the associated bioseparation process, especially in the usual case when the product is present at low concentration in a complex mixture. For example, the existence of an extremely efficient and low-cost separation process for a particular compound could significantly lower the final concentration of that compound required in the bioreactor to achieve a satisfactory overall process. After noting that special approaches and processes are needed for efficient recovery of small molecules (ethanol, amino acids, antibiotics, etc.) from the dilute aqueous product streams of current bioreactors, I shall discuss further only separations of proteins. These are the primary products of the new biotechnology industry, and their purification hinges on the special properties of these biological macromolecules. 

Photobioiogical hydrogen production is the most challenging item of biotechnology for environmental problems. We are not confident that photobioiogical hydrogen production is economically feasible at this... 

Being technically feasible, how are the economics of a plant cell biotechnological production method We have made a design for a large scale plant cell culture system using airlift fermentors, in order to be able to calculate the costs (Fig. 1)(3). 

Economic Feasibility of 3-Hydroxy-propionic Acid Production Using a Biotechnological Approach... 

Mooibroek, FL, Oosterhuis, N., Giuseppin, M., Toonen, M., Franssen, H., Scott, E., Sanders, J., Steinbiichel, A., 2007. Assessment of technological options and economical feasibility for cyanophycin biopolymer and high-value amino acid production. Aj>plied Microbiology and Biotechnology 77,257-267. 

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