Industrial biotechnology

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Fermenters of various designs are used in many biotechnological applications, such as these fermentation tanks for beer production.

The industrial biotechnology , also white biotechnology called, the area is biotechnology , which uses biotechnological methods for industrial production. The term “white biotechnology” distinguishes industrial biotechnology from “green” and “red” biotechnology, which deal with plants and medical devices, but there are overlaps with both areas.

Industrial biotechnology transfers biological and biochemical knowledge and processes through bioprocess engineering into technical applications. For example, bacteria such as Escherichia coli and Corynebacterium glutamicum , yeasts and enzymes are used.

definition

Biotechnology describes the application of knowledge and processes from biology and biochemistry in technical processes, while red biotechnology and green biotechnology deal with applications in the medical and pharmaceutical or agricultural and plant sectors. In addition, there is also occasional mention of blue biotechnology and gray biotechnology in relation to creatures from the sea or biotechnological processes for the treatment of drinking water , purification of waste water , remediation of contaminated soils and for waste processing.

The term "industrial biotechnology" is defined differently:

  • The European industrial association EuropaBio, for example, includes the biotechnological production of specialty and fine chemicals , food and food additives , agricultural and pharmaceutical precursors and numerous auxiliary materials for the processing industry for industrial biotechnology.
  • The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft defines industrial biotechnology as "the industrial production of organic basic and fine chemicals as well as active ingredients with the help of optimized enzymes , cells or microorganisms".
  • The OECD distinguishes between two main areas:
    • Replacement of finite fossil fuels with renewable raw materials , i.e. biomass
    • Replacing conventional industrial processes with biological processes that lower energy requirements and the use of raw materials, as well as reducing the number of process stages and thus lowering costs and at the same time creating ecological advantages.

history

The term industrial biotechnology is relatively young, but some of the methods associated with this biotechnology have been used by mankind for thousands of years. This happened long before the discovery of microorganisms or even an understanding of the underlying processes. For example, in numerous cultures

applied.

In 1856, Louis Pasteur discovered microorganisms in contaminated wine barrels, which he named after their shape with the Greek word for stick Bacterion . The discovered lactic acid bacteria produced from sugar by fermentation lactic acid , while in the wine vats yeast to ferment sugars should be alcohol. With these discoveries, Pasteur laid the foundation for an understanding of fermentation and fermentation and established modern microbiology .

In 2012, 61 of the 565 biotech companies in Germany (around 11%) mainly worked in the field of industrial biotechnology. Many companies in the chemical industry use their methods, but were not recorded in this survey, so that the importance is likely to be significantly greater.

Thanks to advances in the development of biotechnological methods and applications, industrial biotechnology has gained in importance in recent years. Above all, potential is expected in these areas:

Methods

In industrial biotechnology, as in other biotechnologies, various possibilities of bioconversion are used, such as the production of certain metabolic products, be it from catabolism or anabolism .

An organism used in biotechnological application can be selected, for example, because it already has the ability to bioconvert accordingly. By breeding , mutation and selection using conventional, non-genetic methods, the yield can be increased. Before genetic engineering methods were available, enzymes used in biotechnological applications for bioconversion were mostly obtained from certain organisms or organs , such as rennet from calf stomachs.

Cloning of an industrially used GMO .

The development of genetic engineering methods means that industrial biotechnology has significantly expanded possibilities. Organisms that have already been used can be optimized , for example through directed evolution or metabolic engineering , so that they deliver higher yields. Another option is to make previously impossible bioconversions available for industrial use. One obstacle, for example, was that many organisms were unsuitable for use in industrial biotechnology, for example because they could not be cultivated in bioreactors or cultivated too poorly . Using genetic engineering methods, it may be possible to transfer a required gene or several in a manner that is easy to cultivate . The ultimate product of interest may, for example, be the chemical compound formed by the enzyme encoded by this gene. But the enzyme itself can also be the desired product. A well-known example is the production of the peptide hormone insulin with bacteria, which replaced the production of insulin from pig's pancreas . If genetic engineering methods are used, safety measures must be observed during development and production that are specified in Germany by the Genetic Engineering Act and detailed in the Genetic Engineering Safety Ordinance . Work in the laboratory or production area takes place under a certain security level (S1 to S4).

A new approach is the analysis of metagenomes , the entirety of the genes of all species, for example in a biotope . Usually, so far only genes or enzymes can be made usable for biotechnology which come from organisms that can be cultivated under laboratory conditions . With newer molecular biological methods one now hopes to be able to specifically identify certain genes or enzymes that could be of interest for biotechnological applications.

application areas

The application possibilities for industrial biotechnological methods are very diverse. A selection of examples is given below.

Substitution of fossil fuels

Bioethanol is now produced on a large scale for use as a fuel.

Bioethanol , biogas and bio hydrogen can be obtained from biomass .

Antibiotics

Antibiotics are used to treat infectious diseases and are among the most commonly prescribed drugs. A well-known example of a broad spectrum antibiotic is cephalosporin . Like penicillin , it belongs to the β-lactam antibiotics and is derived from the main starting material 7-amino-cephalosporanic acid. When producing with a biotechnological process, room temperature, water as a solvent and no large amounts of toxic substances or heavy metals are necessary. The wastewater can then essentially be treated biologically.

Food additives

Attempts are increasingly being made to increase the nutritional value of certain foods, known as functional foods , by adding certain compounds that are otherwise absent or only present in small quantities.

Vitamins

Complex compounds such as riboflavin (vitamin B2) are easier to produce using biotechnological methods than using chemical processes.

Vitamins are required by the body for vital functions and must be taken in with food or, in the case of malnutrition, through dietary supplements . In the 1990s, for example, vitamin B2 was still being produced using a chemical process in an eight-stage synthesis process. Today, a biotechnological process is used with a single-stage fermentation . This enabled 40% of costs, 60% of raw materials, 30% of CO 2 emissions and 95% of waste to be saved or avoided by 2008 .

amino acids

Several amino acids are now produced on an industrial scale using biotechnological processes. L - lysine is very important . It is an essential amino acid for many livestock and is found in low concentrations in common feed such as soy flour . Every year around 1.5 million t are used as feed additive in poultry production and pig fattening . In fermentative production with bacteria, the main raw material used is sugar.

In the late 1980s, the company introduced Showa Denko using transgenic bacteria the amino acid tryptophan ago, which simultaneously unwanted toxin was produced accidentally, died of the 37 people (so-called eosinophilia-myalgia syndrome ).

Enzymes

There are many uses of biotechnologically produced enzymes in medicine: Enzymes are used in therapy and diagnosis. The economic potential of therapeutic enzymes was only able to develop with the progress made in biotechnological research over the past few decades. The processes of industrial biotechnology allow enzymes to be produced inexpensively and with high efficiency and selectivity. The so-called therapeutic enzymes are used directly as drugs (e.g. lipases , lysozyme , thrombin and others).

In the food industry , more than 40 enzymes are used in numerous production processes. Enzymes modify starch ( modified starch ), optimize fats and proteins, they stabilize whipped foams and creams and combine meat parts to form molded meat . Enzymes ensure that cornflakes are firm to the bite, the freeze-thaw stability of ready-made dough, the uniform quality of ice cream cones and prevent pasta from sticking after cooking. Enzymes preserve mayonnaise and egg products, control the ripening of fermented foods and beverages, they enable more intense flavors, break down fatty acids from butter, cheese or cream flavors or create spices or roast flavors from proteins.

Enzymes in detergents and cleaning agents

Detergents contain certain enzymes, e.g. lipases , proteases , amylases , which help to remove soiling with fats , proteins (e.g. blood, egg yolks) and starch by breaking them down into water-soluble components. The resulting improved washing effect allows the washing temperatures and washing times to be reduced and the consumption of water, detergent and energy compared to enzyme-free detergents.

Initially, the enzymes were produced biotechnologically using non-genetically modified microorganisms that had been optimized through selection. Genetic engineering has been used since the 1980s to achieve higher yields and make other enzymes usable.

Hormones

The peptide hormone insulin can be produced fermentatively by bacteria.

The supply of hormones is necessary in medicine for various diseases, for example growth or menopausal symptoms and in cancer therapy .

The pain and inflammation relieving effect of the steroid hormone , for example, made cortisone an interesting drug. The complex chemical synthesis in 37 steps was replaced by the more economical biotechnological production in 11 steps. Among other things, the metabolic performance of the fungus Rhizopus arrhizus was used. With the help of further biotechnological processes, the starting material for the synthesis of cortisone, diosgenin , which was obtained from the Mexican yams root, could be replaced.

Textile industry

Hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) is used in the textile industry to bleach textiles . Hydrogen peroxide is a strong oxidizing agent that must be completely removed from the textile material after the bleaching process. In the conventional process, hydrogen peroxide is removed by rinsing with hot water (80–95 ° C) for two hours. In spite of the high consumption of water and energy, the bleaching agent can only be completely removed by subsequent treatment with various chemicals. In the biotechnological process, an enzymatic process was developed to remove the bleach. The enzyme catalase is used for post-treatment of the textiles . This enzyme converts the hydrogen peroxide into water and oxygen within a few minutes at 30–40 ° C. Instead of two rinsing cycles, only one rinsing step with warm water has to be carried out to remove the bleach.

Biopesticides

The global market for bio - pesticides , such as for a means of weed control with micro-organisms or their products is growing strongly.

An example of biopesticides is the production of the toxin from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis . The so-called Bt toxin , a protein , is also poisonous to some insects. This protein is brewed like beer and can be sprayed on - even in organic farming. In some genetically modified organisms , for example in Bt maize , the toxin is produced in the plant cells after the protein-coding gene has been integrated.

Bioplastics

Mulch film made of PLA bioplastic

The biotechnological production of monomers for plastics and polymer production is another field of biotechnological processes. Intensive research has been carried out for many years on the development of biodegradable polymers , for example . The first applications are on the market. But non-biodegradable bio-based plastics are also being developed. These biotechnological processes replace petrochemical processes for the production of certain polymers or develop new polymers with new properties. Well-known examples are polylactic acid (polylactide, PLA), polyamides and polyhydroxyalkanoates such as polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB).

outlook

Industrial biotechnology is one of the so-called key technologies. It can be assumed that through the targeted use of microorganisms and their biotechnological improvement, many industrial processes can be made more cost-effective (fewer process stages, less use of material and energy) and more ecological (fewer and more environmentally friendly residues and emissions ), and renewable raw materials are used for industrial use opened up.

literature

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Industrial biotechnology. Notes on the information page about the program Industrial Biotechnology of the University of Ansbach
  2. ↑ a b Survey by the information platform biotechnologie.de ( Memento from August 30, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF)
  3. ↑ a b c Garabed Antranikian: Applied Microbiology. 1st edition. Springer-Verlag, Berlin / Heidelberg 2006, ISBN 3-540-24083-7 .
  4. ↑ Press release from the German Chemical Industry Association (VCI) Biotechnology - A future technology opens up new avenues. Speech of September 18, 2008, page 15
  5. ↑ Jeffrey M. Smith: Trojan Seeds. Riemann 2004, ISBN 3-570-50060-8 . Chapter 4: About L-tryptophan , genetically engineered by Showa Denko , which caused eosinophilia-myalgia syndrome, from which 37 people died and over 1,500 became ill.
  6. ↑ Information from Henkel AG Saving energy with biotechnologically produced enzymes. Retrieved January 1, 2010.
  7. ↑ Biopolymers / Biomaterials: Bio-based polyamides through fermentation. on the website of the Institute for Bioprocess Engineering at the Technical University of Braunschweig