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and forecasts this figure will grow by 50m ha by 2020 to meet future demand increases. Supply of palm oil alone is expected to increase


from the current 47m t/year to 95-97m t/year by 2025. Cellulosic ethanol, produced by fermentation either of dedicated energy crops or of waste biomass, such as corn stover and wheat straw left after harvest, is promoted as a more sustainable biomass source that does not compete with food production. Three commercial-scale plants are currently under construction in the US, while Europe hosts four demonstration plants, including a 1000t/year facility which came onstream in July 2012 in Bavaria using Clariant’s sunliquid fermentation technology, according to group vp corporate R&D Andre Koltermann. The front- runner, however, is Beta Renewables in Italy, which is now in the commissioning phase with a commercial-scale 60,000 t/year facility due to start production from Q4 2012, said coo Michele Rubino, referring also to a premium on green electricity in Italy that allows it to benefit by returning 15MW of power from lignin to the grid. Longer term, researchers argue that what is needed is to move away from agricultural sources of carbon altogether and find other routes to achieve energy independence that do not conflict with what’s on the dinner table. One early starter in this direction is New Zealand firm LanzaTech, which uses the waste gases from steel production – which is rich in carbon monoxide – among possible inputs to produce ethanol. Feedstock flexibility is key, according to chief scientific officer Sean Simpson, as it also allows the firm to be more competitive by benefiting from the prevailing economics. The technology can also extract energy from municipal solid waste (MSW) that would otherwise be sent to landfill. Elsewhere at EFIB, the discussions centred on


the practicality of extracting more of the wealth of carbon riches buried in the world’s oceans. While more than 70% of the Earth’s surface is covered by oceans, less than 3% of global food production occurs there, commented Kjartan Sandnes, head of R&D at Marine Bioproducts in Norway. Only a third of the global fish catch ends up as food on the dinner table, while another third is discarded as waste.In May 2012, the company opened a new 60,000 t facility for processing salmon backbones, heads and viscera etc, employing continuous hydrolysis to convert these low value wastes into bioactive peptides, flavour ingredients and peptones – including one product already commercialised in high end dog foods to lower the risk of pet allergy. While fish are a source of oils and proteins,


another of the oceans’ bounties, seaweeds, comprise carbohydrates, proteins and ash, already widely exploited for fertilisers, said Ana-Lopez- Contreras of Wageningen University in the Netherlands.


Unlike plant biomass, however, the composition of seaweed is highly variable, both seasonally and between different species – a big consideration when establishing biorefinery operations of the type the group is developing in the North Sea.


Identifying these new renewable feedstocks,


however, is just the first step. The real trick is to transform them to the chemicals and products of interest – not just the old petrochemical replacements but new and better materials with improved functionalities and performances. At SilicoLife in Portugal, chief scientific officer Isabel Rocha outlined how researchers are now attempting to do this with the aid of complex algorithms that compute the best metabolic pathways to re-engineer microbes as the optimal cell factories. ‘Our idea is to build maps and algorithms to go from [chemical] A to [desired product] B,’ Rocha said, drawing an analogy with GPS. The result is a series of pathways showing which genes to delete and over-express to maximise bioprocess efficiency. French firm Global BioEnergies has taken a


different approach to the problem, explained ceo Marc Delcourt. The company is in the process of re-engineering microbes to produce light olefins – compounds that are not produced in nature but which are potentially invaluable as starting points for a plethora of petrochemical products. The first of these light olefins on the firm’s hit list is isobutene, for which a de novo pathway has already been identified and an industrial pilot plant is in preparation. With an estimated cost of $1500/t even from first generation plant feedstocks, Delcourt is confident that genetically bioengineered isobutene will already be competitive with its petrochemical equivalent. As the first of the second generation


commercial-scale biofuels and chemicals plants start finally to come onstream, meanwhile, we can only wait and watch to see what developments will take place in future. For now the forecast for the industrial biotechnology sector remains uncertain, like the weather, with bright outbreaks of innovation overshadowed by dark funding clouds that threaten to scupper progress. And as this summer’s droughts in the US and Russia have once again highlighted, the acid test will be what impact all of this has on food prices. A trilemma indeed.


October 2012 Editorial Neil Eisberg


Editor neisberg@wiley.com


Deputy editor Cath O’Driscoll


codriscoll@wiley.com


Design and production Simon Evans


ciproduction@wiley.com


SCI Members’ News Simon Lightfoot slightfoot@wiley.com


contributors Kevin Burgess


Maria Burke Jon Evans Sarah Houlton Regular


Anna Jagger


Kathryn Roberts


Dede Williams


Emma Dorey Jon Evans


Nigel Freestone Anthony King A Nair


Contributors Greg Hampikian


G. Richard Stephenson Michael Gross


Tony Hargreaves Stan Higgins


Elisabeth Jeffries George Kauffman Sean Milmo Brian Pickett Matt Pulzer


Dennis Rouvray Gerd Wagner Michael Walker


Chemistry&Industry • November 2012 5


Neil Eisberg


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