Trends in the Biology of Fermentations for Fuels and Chemicals


Book Description

The growing concern about where energy rich chemicals for the future will come from has stimulated a resurgence of interest in the potentialities of microbial fermentations to assist in meeting anti cipated demands for fuels and chemicals. While much attention has been given recently to the early deployment of alcohol production plants and similar currently available technologies, the potential future developments have received much less attention. One of the intentions of the present symposium was to look ahead and try to perceive some of the prospects for future fermentation technology. In order to accomplish this, a symposium program of sizable diversity was developed with workers giving a representative cross section of their particular specialty as an indicator of the status of basic information in their area. In addition, an attempt was made to elicit from the various participants the types of fundamental infor mation which should be generated in the coming years to enable new fermentation technology to proceed expeditiously. In organizing the symposium particular effort was made to involve workers from the academic, industrial and governmental scientific communities.










Industrialization of Biology


Book Description

The tremendous progress in biology over the last half century - from Watson and Crick's elucidation of the structure of DNA to today's astonishing, rapid progress in the field of synthetic biology - has positioned us for significant innovation in chemical production. New bio-based chemicals, improved public health through improved drugs and diagnostics, and biofuels that reduce our dependency on oil are all results of research and innovation in the biological sciences. In the past decade, we have witnessed major advances made possible by biotechnology in areas such as rapid, low-cost DNA sequencing, metabolic engineering, and high-throughput screening. The manufacturing of chemicals using biological synthesis and engineering could expand even faster. A proactive strategy - implemented through the development of a technical roadmap similar to those that enabled sustained growth in the semiconductor industry and our explorations of space - is needed if we are to realize the widespread benefits of accelerating the industrialization of biology. Industrialization of Biology presents such a roadmap to achieve key technical milestones for chemical manufacturing through biological routes. This report examines the technical, economic, and societal factors that limit the adoption of bioprocessing in the chemical industry today and which, if surmounted, would markedly accelerate the advanced manufacturing of chemicals via industrial biotechnology. Working at the interface of synthetic chemistry, metabolic engineering, molecular biology, and synthetic biology, Industrialization of Biology identifies key technical goals for next-generation chemical manufacturing, then identifies the gaps in knowledge, tools, techniques, and systems required to meet those goals, and targets and timelines for achieving them. This report also considers the skills necessary to accomplish the roadmap goals, and what training opportunities are required to produce the cadre of skilled scientists and engineers needed.




Solar Energy Update


Book Description













Biotechnology


Book Description

256 citations on the topic of energy production and products, genetics, chromosomes, DNA, RNA, manipulation, bioengineering, biotechnology, etc. Most citations have abstracts. Contains an author index and a subject index.