Biotechnology energy efficiency

Although biotechnological processes often have been stated to be energy efficient in that the reaction temperature is low, it is important to realize that the product concentrations are low and that the product recovery step is often the most energy consuming. 

Vane, L.M. and Alvarez, F.R. (2008) Membrane-assisted vapor stripping energy-efficient hybrid distillation vapor permeation processes for alcohol-water separation. Journal of Chemical Technology and Biotechnology, 83(9), 1275-1287. 

Membranes Directions are outlined to achieve greater membrane stability and molecular transport and in turn to permit wider use of energy-efficient and economically attractive membrane technology in biotechnology, health care, and chemical synthesis. 

Vane, L. M., Alvarez, F. R., Huang, Y., Baker, R. W. (2009). Experimental vahdation of hybrid distillation-vapor permeation process for energy efficient ethanol-water separation. Journal of Chemical Technology and Biotechnology, 85, 502—511. 

The amino acid production industry will remain as a fast growing business enterprise until a cheaper and energy efficient process is commercialized. Microbial amino acid production will be exploited to the most possible extend of maximal production capacity and process economics by new innovations in strain improvement, metabolic engineering, and systems biology. Microbial amino acid production holds a promising position in the future of white biotechnology and studies on utilization of feedstock for... 

Zhu, J.Y., Pan, X., Zalesny, R.S.J., 2010a. Pretreatment of woody biomass for biofuel production energy efficiency, technologies, and recalcitrance. Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology 87,847-857. 

Miyake J, Miyake M, Asada Y (1999) Biotechnological hydrogen production research for efficient light energy conversion. J Biotechnol 70 89-101... 

---