Percorso di eCLIL della Classe 5B LIceo Scientifico Paschini Prof. Simone Babuin

1. INDUSTRIAL
BIOTECHNOLOGY

2. WHAT IS INDUSTRIAL BIOTECHNOLOGY?
• Industrial Biotechnology, also known as White Biotechnology, is the modern use
and application of biotechnology for the sustainable processing and production of
chemicals,pharmaceuticals, food and feed, detergents, paper and pulp, textiles,
energy, materials and polymers.

3. WHY IS INDUSTRIAL BIOTECHNOLOGY
IMPORTANT?
• Make agriculture more competitive and sustainable.
• Reduce environmental impact by developing innovative products at
affordable costs.
• Increase industry eco-efficiency & sustainability

4. THE IMPACT OF INDUSTRIAL BIOTECHNOLOGY
• The environment benefits because biotechnological processes are efficient users
of raw materials
• Significant reductions in carbon dioxide emissions, energy consumption, and water
use
• Industrial biotechnology will play an increasingly significant role in the chemical
and other manufacturing industries in the future. Together, these environmental
and economic benefits will contribute to create a more sustainable society, with
greater opportunities and a reduced dependence on fossil fuels.

5. PRODUCTS OF INDUSTRIAL BIOTECHNOLOGY
• Bulk chemicals
• Bio-fuels and bio-energy
• Fine and speciality chemicals
• New materials

6. CRUCIAL ASPECTS OF INDUSTRIAL
BIOTECHNOLOGY
• Modern White Biotechnology is a relatively new discipline.
• It offers great development opportunities but appropriate and timely research needs to be in
place to support innovation.
• Good contacts and coordination are crucial to create trans-disciplinary synergies to unleash
its true potential and allow Industrial Biotechnology to become a real driver of innovation
and sustainability in Europe.
• The SusChem (the Industrial Biotechnology section of the Sustainable Chemistry) Technology
Platform will also cooperate on Industrial Biotechnology issues with other Technology
Platforms such as: the Bio-fuels, Plants for the Future, Innovative and Sustainable use of
Forest Resources, Food for Life, Textile and Clothing, and Future Manufacturing Technologies.

7. THE MAJOR CHALLENGES FACING INDUSTRIAL
BIOTECHNOLOGY
• In the Biomass area (ex. Identification of competitive biomass feedstocks ,the development
of a closed loop fermentation cycle,ecc..)
• In the Bio-processes and Bio-products area (The development of innovative bio-products
with new applications and properties, the development of new (bio)products with higher
performance in existing applications, the development of models to predict cellular
functioning under industrial production conditions, ecc..)
• Bio-fuels area (The development of optimal enzymes and robust fermentation systems, The
development of new fermentation processes based on crude glycerol as a carbon source,
Analysis of the potential to produce bio-diesel economically with biotechnological methods
based on methanol or bio-ethanol, ecc…)

8. HOW DOES INDUSTRIAL
BIOTECHNOLOGY WORK?
• TRASFORMING BIOMASS INTO EVERY DAY PRODUCTS
• THE USAGE OF BIOREFINERIES
• SWITCHING TO BIOFUELS
• REPLACING PETROCHEMICALS WITH BIOBASED
MATERIALS
• IMPROVED EFFICIENCY

9. A VISION FOR 2025
• By the year 2025, an increasing number of chemicals and materials will be produced using biotechnology
in one or more of the processing steps. Biotechnological processes will be used to produce chemicals and
materials which are hard or impossible to produce conventionally, or to make existing products in a more
efficient way.
• Biotechnology will allow increasingly eco-efficient use of renewable resources as industrial raw materials.
• Rural bio-refineries will replace port-based oil refineries wherever it is economically feasible.
• Industrial Biotechnology will enable a range of industries to manufacture products in an economically and
environmentally sustainable way.
• By 2025, biomass-derived energy based on biotechnology is expected to account for an increasing share of
European energy consumption
• European industry will be innovative and competitive, with sustained cooperation and support between
the research community, industry, agriculture and civil society.
• Green Biotechnology will make a substantial contribution to the efficient production of biomass raw
materials.