Green Chemistry Is A Guide For Industrial Biotechnology
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| Audience/Grade: | College Freshman - Continuing Education |
| Discipline(s): |
Chemical, Biochemical, Biomolecular Engineering Chemistry |
| Learning Resource Type: | Reference - Article/Document |
| Media Type: | WWW |
| Author(s): | Chemical Engineering News |
| Description: | News article 84 (14), April 3, 2006. It begins: "Most of the developments in industrial biotechnology have their foundations in the principles of green chemistry, which emphasize developing economically viable products and processes that require fewer reagents, less solvent, and less energy than conventional processes, while being safer, generating less waste, and having a lower environmental impact. The benefits of industrial biotechnology are observable in data collected by the Environmental Protection Agency to measure the impact of the technologies developed by recipients of the annual Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Awards, which EPA administers. The award-winning processes are preventing an average of 140 million lb of hazardous substances from being produced each year, saving more than 55 million gal of process water per year, and preventing 57 million lb of carbon dioxide emissions per year. In total, green chemistry technologies are preventing more than 3 billion lb of hazardous materials or waste per year, according to EPA." The article continues to give examples of recent award winners. One example is associated with the image: "Metabolix Inc., Cambridge, Mass., has developed a fermentation process to produce biodegradable polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) "natural plastics" from renewable feedstocks. Some bacteria naturally synthesize PHAs for energy storage, much as animals produce fat. Metabolix has taken advantage of this biopolymerization process by incorporating a series of genes from various PHA-producing bacteria into a strain of Escherichia coli. The genes in turn express enzymes that can convert sugars or oil into polymers via a multistep process within the bacterial cells. The key markets for PHA plastics include food packaging; disposable and single-use items, such as dinnerware and coated-paper hot-beverage cups; and agricultural and soil-stabilizing applications requiring biodegradation. Metabolix has been producing small amounts of PHAs through contract firms, but it has now teamed up with Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) to begin large-scale production of the polymers by mid-2008. Metabolix will join Cargill (NatureWorks polylactic acid) and DuPont (Sorona polypropylene terephthalate)—both former Green Chemistry Award winners—as commercial producers of biomass-based polymers." |
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| Keywords: | green chemistry, sustainable engineering, bioplastics |
| Usage Tip | |
| Use of Resource: | From Chemical and Engineering News highlights. |
| Difficulty: | Easy |
| Interactivity Level: | Very Low |
| Version Info | |
| Publication Date: | 2006 |
| Platform/Format: | WWW |
| Cost: | Free |
| Download URL: | http://pubs.acs.org/cen/employment/84/8414employbox2.html |
| Metadata: | IEEE LOM Record |
| Collection: |
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