An animal friendly alternative for cheese makers (pdf)
	Enzymes sweet enzymes (pdf)
	Cleaner detergents (pdf)
	Naturally cleaner cotton (pdf)
	Stonewashing without stones (pdf)
	Biological vitamin B2 production (pdf)
	Biologically better bread (pdf)
	Sustainable biofuels (pdf)

A worldwide production of some one million tonnes of L-glutamic acid (used, for example to make mono-sodium glutamate, a widely-used taste enhancer).

350,000 tonnes of L-lysine, used as a supplement in animal feed, are also produced annually

Aspartame, the popular low-calorie sweetener, is produced from two amino acids. One – phenylalanine – is made by fermentation and the second – aspartic acid – using biocatalysis. The sweetener itself is made by combining these two in an enzymic process.

Vitamins are increasingly made using biotech processes. For example, 4,000 tonnes of vitamin B2 are now made in a single-step fermentation process, replacing the conventional 8-stage chemical synthesis.

• Crop protection products. For example:

Bio-pesticides, including a range of living fungal and viral preparations, made by fermentation, are used to control certain pests and diseases in the field.

Certain weeds can be selectively fought with well-defined phytopathogenic fungi: they are called mycoherbicides. Spores of Colletotrichum gleosporioides (COLLEGO™) are used against vetch in rice and soy bean cultures; Phytophtora palmivora (DEVINE™) against choking weed in citrus cultures in the USA.

Industrial biotechnology is also increasingly being used to produce intermediates for conventional crop protection agents, such as S-chloropropionic acid

• Food colours and flavours, including:

Beta-carotene is made by fermentation with the fungus Blakeslea trispora.

Examples of flavours include a butter flavour made by Unilever, and a peach aroma from BASF.

• Bio-polymers are already made in significant quantities:

Mitsubishi Rayon make some 100,000 tonnes a year of acrylamide in a fermentation process, to be turned into polyacrylamide. This process is more efficient and produces a higher quality product.

Natureworks® is a bio-plastic made by Cargill-Dow entirely from renewable material: cornstarch. The starch is fermented to produce lactic acid, which is then turned into poly-lactic acid, a plastic with not only has useful functional properties but is also bio-degradable. 140,000 tonnes are produced annually.

DuPont produced a novel polyester called Sorona®. One of the monomers used – 1,3-propanediol – is made by a single stage fermentation from starch. The micro-organism which does this was produced in collaboration with Genencor.

• Fine chemicals and pharmaceuticals:

Biotechnological processes now account for approximately 15% of fine chemicals and pharmaceuticals production, and this share is growing strongly.

The great majority of antibiotics are now produced by fermentation. The world market for antibiotics is some 20 billion.

Other important pharmaceuticals, for example Captopril™ (an ACE inhibitor for treatment of hypertension) are made using fermentation processes.

• Bio-fuels:

Bio-ethanol is produced worldwide on an increasing scale, currently mainly by fermenting starch or sugar-cane waste. However, biotechnology is also providing more sophisticated enzymes, capable of fermenting a wider range of agricultural materials, including straw and other cellulose-based by-products which are currently largely wasted. Bio-ethanol is used as a component of petrol, but is also useful as an energy source in fuel cells, which may soon be a real alternative to conventional engines.

Bio-diesel in Europe comes mainly from esterification of rape oil. This process is mainly carried out using conventional chemistry, but enzymic inter-esterification processes may soon be a commercial reality.

Bio-gas can be produced very efficiently from biomass and sewage. This is can then be used for electricity generation and heating.