Synopses & Reviews
In Biotechnology for Fuels and Chemicals: The Twenty-Second Symposium, leading US and international researchers from academia, industry, and government present state-of-the-art papers on how bioengineering is being used to produce fuels and chemicals that are economically competitive. The program ranged from a discussion of feedstock production, modification, and characterization, to an examination of new bio/catalysts using enzyme, microbial, and plant biochemistries, as well as genetic engineering. Additional topics include: the conversion of plant components via integration of microbiology, biochemistry, and chemistry with engineering separations, and hybrid systems; the manufacture and use of enzymes; and recent developments in the integrated production and scale-up of chemicals from biological rather than petrochemical routes. The field is clearly in an expansion mode, and the ideas and techniques described will play an important role in developing new biological processes for producing fuels and chemicals on a large scale, and in reducing pollution, waste disposal problems, and the impact on global climate change. Cutting-edge and authoritative, Biotechnology for Fuels and Chemicals: The Twenty-Second Symposium provides an excellent overview of current research and development in the production of commodity fuels and chemicals via biological transformation.
Synopsis
lysts using enzyme, microbial, and plantbiochemistriesand genetic engi- neeringand "ProcessingResearch" describedtheconversionofplantcom- ponentsviaintegrationofmicrobiology, biochemistry, andchemistrywith engineering, separations, and hybrid systems. The "Enzymatic Processes and Enzyme Production" session focused on the manufacture and use of enzymes. The"IndustrialChemicals"sessionemphasizedrecentdevelop- mentsintheintegratedproductionandscale-upofchemicalsfrombiologi- cal rather than petrochemical routes. Special interest was on separation methods and their integrationintonew fermentation orhybrid processes. 35 oral presentations, a roundtable The technical program consisted of forum, two special topic discussions, and a poster session of 135 posters. Wecontinuedasuccessfulinformalroundtableserieswith"Bioenergy and Bioproducts: Forum on Recent Government Initiatives," which dis- cussedthePresident'sExecutiveOrder, the BioenergyInitiative, the Tech- nology Roadmap for Renewables Vision 2020, and other thrusts. These eventscontinuethe strongindustrial focus and activeindustrialparticipa- tionintheorganizingcommittee. Thishasbecomeverypopularbecauseit allows industrialand government participants to speakmore openly. AspecialTopicsDiscussionGroupwasheldon"C0 Sequestration," 2 ledby James W. Lee. Another onwas held on "Commercializationof Bio- mass-to-Ethanol" where chairs Jack N. Saddler and David J. Gregg made thegoal ofthisworkshop to showparticipantsthatweare close to demon- stratingthe technicalviability ofanintegratedbiomass-to-ethanolprocess and that progressive technical advances and policy decisions will likely greatly enhance the economic attractiveness of the process.