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Chapter 9 : Preemptive Bioremediation: Applying Biotechnology for Clean Industrial Products and Processes
Although the implementation of preemptive bioremediation strategies has been slower than expected, biotechnology is providing a rapidly expanding tool kit so that new product and process creation can be expected to accelerate. This chapter describes some of these new developments, identifies the barriers faced by the new technology, and indicates how they might be overcome. In addition, it highlights the contributions to be made by the latest research and development. The chapter examines how companies assess their various options and make decisions concerning the introduction of novel products and processes. A general class of biodegradable plastics are the microbially produced polyesters which have ester bonds that are susceptible to enzymatic attack. Since the 1970s, a number of countries have been involved in the manufacture of liquid fuels based on plant raw materials. A prerequisite for physical refining of crude vegetable oils is a low phosphatide content in the oil entering the final deacidification-deodorization stage. The content of phosphatides is reduced in a degumming step, and one way of doing this is enzymatically in a process based on the hydrolysis of the phosphatide molecule. Expensive processes are required to generate hydrogen and to convert the main by-product, hydrogen sulfide, into elemental sulfur. The conventional process saturates olefins in the gasoline, which results in a lowered octane rating. Biodesulfurization (BDS) offers potential cost savings because the process operates at ambient temperature and pressure and produces only nontoxic by-products.
Key Concept Ranking
- Organic Chemicals