Green chemistry and its contribution to industrial biotechnology

Research output: Contributions to collected editions/worksChapterpeer-review

Authors

Sustainable chemistry is a broad framework that starts with the function that a chemical product is offering. Not only chemical but also economic and ethical aspects come into focus throughout the complete lifecycle of chemical products. Green chemistry is an important building block for sustainable chemistry and addresses the issue of greener synthesis and, to a certain degree, the more benign properties of chemicals. The principles of green chemistry clearly aim at making chemical reactions and processes more environmentally friendly. Aspects such as atom efficiency, energy efficiency, harmless reactants, renewable resources, and pollution prevention are considered. Despite the progress made toward a “greener” chemistry, biotechnological processes, as processes for the conversion of biomass into value-added products, have not been properly adapted to new developments. Processes used in industrial biotechnology are predominantly linear. This review elaborates on the potential contributions of green chemistry to industrial biotechnology and vice versa. Examples are presented of how green chemistry and biotechnology can be connected to make substrate supply, upstream and downstream processing, and product formation more sustainable. The chapter ends with a case study of adipic acid production from lignin to illustrate the importance of a strong connection between green chemistry and biotechnology. Graphical Abstract:

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationSustainability and Life Cycle Assessment in Industrial Biotechnology
EditorsMagnus Fröhling, Michael Hiete
Number of pages18
Place of PublicationCham
PublisherSpringer International Publishing AG
Publication date2020
Pages281-298
ISBN (print)978-3-030-47065-4
ISBN (electronic)978-3-030-47066-1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2020

    Research areas

  • Chemistry - adipic acid, Downstream processing, Fermentation, Renewable resources, Sustainable chemistry, Upstream processing

DOI