Key Platform - White biotechnology is establishing itself as a key technology platform for innovative and sustainable processes and products in the chemical industry.

In cases where classical chemical routines find their limitation, biotechnological process steps can improve, sometimes even replace costly or not eco-efficient chemical processes, or allow access to new high-value products. The chemical industry is thus at the threshold of a hybrid between petrochemicals and biotechnology.

The drivers of the modern chemical industry are escalating energy demand, limited fossil resources and the need for sustainable economic growth, while protecting the environment and climate. One of the chemical industry's engines of innovation in recent years has become white biotechnology as a key platform for innovative and sustainable chemical processes and products.

Though biotechnology is growing in importance, the chemical industry is still largely dependent on petrochemicals. Over 90% of all industrially manufactured organic chemicals - almost all organic bulk chemicals and all base chemicals - are based on petroleum or natural gas. A sophisticated integrated modular system, in which byproducts from one synthesis are used as feedstocks for other syntheses, permits highly efficient, economical production of a wide range of substances.

Yet, there are limitations for the classical chemical routines, and this opens up room for biotechnical processes - especially when it's possible to combine chemistry and biotechnology and profit from this fruitful and productive partnership.

Complicated Molecules - A Domain of Biotechnology

If complex molecules have to be built up or chiral substances produced in an enantiomerically pure form, petrochemical processes are generally complicated and expensive. For such cases, white biotechnology has proven particularly successful. For example, proteins are solely accessible by biotech routes: The more complex the chemistry, the greater the opportunities for biotech production.

For this reason, fine and specialty chemicals are currently white biotech's biggest domains. For example, over two thirds of all enantioselective syntheses are currently performed with enzymes. Chemicals that are metabolites of microorganisms are increasingly being made by fermentation as an alternative to conventional, usually multistage chemical syntheses. Modern fermentation methods are always competitive for products other than cheap bulk chemicals, and if the market is large enough to support the high cost of R&D and process innovation.

The few bulk chemicals (annual production over 100,000 metric tons) currently produced by biotech means include ethanol (bioethanol), acrylamide, 1,3-propandiol (for the production of polytrimethylene terephthalate) and lactic acid (for the production of polylactide). Some 100 ethanol plants are already operating in the U.S., with a further 70 under construction.

Such first generation biorefineries process starch (in the U.S.: corn starch) or saccharose from sugar cane (in Brazil). But bioethanol also represents an interesting C2 building block. In Brazil, bioethanol is cheaper than the comparable and important petrochemical C2 building block ethylene. Experts calculate that sooner or later, rising oil prices may make it economically attractive to produce bioethanol, and thereby to synthesize simple C2 building blocks by a biotech route.

Paradigm Shift

In recent years, it has become clear that we are reaching the limits of the exploitation of fossil resources as fuels and petrochemicals. Petroleum and natural gas reserves are limited; their use as energy sources leads to significant carbon emissions; some producer regions are politically unstable; and the oil price is constantly rising. On the other hand, there is industrial biotech, whose methods and potential have made massive strides since the 1980s. Now, it can not only expand the chemical industry's arsenal of techniques, but also make an important contribution to conserving resources and climate protection.

It is against this background that the chemical industry is working industriously on biotech methods that lead to bulk chemicals. It is also looking for routes to short-chain building blocks that are petroleum-independent and carbon-neutral. Experts are now talking of a paradigm shift - disproving the opinion that biotech methods are hopeless for the production of simple base chemicals. The example of bioethanol shows that the biotech production of commodity products from renewable raw materials is not only feasible but can also be competitive.

Innovation Fields

These developments give rise to a number of innovation fields. For example, optimized biorefinery concepts are necessary to maximize the value creation of the refineries. Work is progressing apace on developing second generation biorefineries that use lignocellulose as starting material for ethanol production and consume agricultural waste, such as straw or bagasse.

In a new research focus, the Wacker Group's corporate R&D is developing innovative ways of economically producing ethylene and acetic acid from renewable raw materials. These two base chemicals are of strategic importance for the company. One project, for example, is aimed at the chemoenzymatic digestion of lignocellulose with the aim of developing fermentation routes to C2 and C4 building blocks. Wacker is already running a pilot plant for the production of acetic acid via biotechnology and innovative downstream chemistry.

In combination with ethen derived from bioethanol, this would allow the production of "green" VAM and polymers independent from petrochemical refineries.

Another current project examines processes to employ bacteria to produce acetic acid from hydrogen and carbon dioxide. Other research projects of the biotech field are dedicated to improving production strains by genomic design and systems-biology methods.

Conclusion And Outlook

Biotechnology plays an important role in the utilization of renewable raw materials, and is therefore also a research topic of strategic importance for traditional chemical companies. It can be regarded as one of the key technologies for developing economically and ecologically successful new processes and products, since it permits petroleum-independent, carbon-neutral production of many substances, and paves the way to "green chemistry."

From our point of view, an integrated chemistry based on renewable raw materials will develop in the medium term, and a hybrid biotech-petrochemistry will become established. Wacker's corporate research is already pursuing several projects on biogenic production of strategically important bulk chemicals.