Searchable FAQ

Acellular products do not contain modified cells in the end product. The modified cells are only part of the production process and are destroyed during the process. In contrast, other cellular products made by synthetic biology contains the modified cells by themselves.

Advanced ethanol (also called 2nd Generation or 2G ethanol) is ethanol produced from lignocellulosic and bio-waste materials. The most well-developed production route is fermentation of the sugars, which become accessible by pre-treatment of the lignocellulose and subsequent hydrolysis of the sugar-containing cellulose fiber and hemicellulose fractions.

Tallow, lard, yellow grease, chicken fat, and the by-products of the production of Omega-3 fatty acids from fish oil are increasingly used as biodiesel fuel feedstocks.

Biobased building blocks are molecules from which new compounds might be constructed by Industrial Biotechnology. 
Biobased building blocks can be classified as either ‘drop-in’ or ‘novel’ biobased chemicals. ‘Drop-ins’ are biobased versions of existing petrochemicals with existing markets, enabling a faster route to market and they should show better properties than existing petrochemical building blocks. ‘Novel’ biobased building blocks are unique properties which are unobtainable with fossil-based alternatives or with chemical building blocks.

Bio-isobutanol is an alcohol that can be produced from renewable, organic material (biomass) including corn, wheat, sugarcane and—in the future—non-food plants. This advantaged biofuel was developed to accelerate the shift toward renewable transportation fuels that lower overall greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Generally blended with gasoline, bio-isobutanol can be used to fuel cars and other vehicles. It can be combined with gasoline on its own or alongside ethanol to help enhance that biofuel’s performance in a fuel blend.
How is bio-isobutanol different from ethanol? Compared with ethanol, bio-isobutanol’s energy content is closer to that of gasoline. That means less compromise on fuel economy, which is particularly important as the amount of biofuel in the fuel blend increases. It has a low vapor pressure, meaning it can be easily added to conventional gasoline. Bio-isobutanol can be used in higher blend concentrations than ethanol (from 10 % to 16 %) without requiring specially adapted vehicles, and will not force automakers to compromise on performance in order to meet environmental regulations.

Biobased materials are partly or entirely made of renewable raw materials. Biobased plastics can be biodegradable – but they are not always. Numbering among the biobased but not biodegradable plastics is biopolyethylene, natural-fiber plastics, and composites of wood and plastic.

A material is biodegradable if it can, with the help of micro-organisms, break down into natural elements (e.g. water, carbon dioxide, biomass). See also oxo-degradable and compostable.

Fuel derived from vegetable oils or animal fats. It is produced when a vegetable oil or animal fat is chemically reacted with an alcohol.
Fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) are a type of fatty acid ester that is derived by transesterification of fats with methanol. The molecules in biodiesel are primarily FAMEs, usually obtained from vegetable oils by transesterification. They are used to produce detergents and biodiesel. FAMES are typically produced by an alkali-catalyzed reaction between fats and methanol in the presence of a base such as sodium hydroxide or sodium methoxide. A distinction to Biodiesel see Green Diesel.

Biogas typically refers to a mixture of different gases produced by the breakdown of organic matter in the absence of oxygen. Biogas can be produced from raw materials such as agricultural waste, manure, municipal waste, plant material, sewage, green waste or food waste. Biogas is primarily methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2) and may have small amounts of hydrogen sulfide (H2S), moisture and siloxanes.

Until now Biogas is a renewable energy source but Biogas is shifting away from power and towards fuels in order to better exploit the valuable ingredients.

Biogas became eligible to generate fuel credits called cellulosic biofuel RINs in 2014. Biogas is the dominant cellulosic biofuel in America.

Any organic matter that is available on a renewable or recurring basis, including agricultural crops and trees, wood and wood residues, plants (including aquatic plants), grasses, animal manure, municipal residues, and other residue materials. Biomass is generally produced in a sustainable manner from water and carbon dioxide by photosynthesis. It is unique among reewable energy resources in that it can be converted to sustainable fuels, chemicals or power.

Building blocks see BBB

Various processes can convert CO2 to hydrocarbons, but they usually produce volatile single-carbon hydrocarbons such as methane and methanol. Building carbon-carbon bonds to produce longer chain, liquid hydrocarbon is a significant challenge.

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) or carbon capture and sequestration is the process of capturing waste carbon dioxide (CO2) from large point sources, such as fossil fuel power plants, transporting it to a storage site, and depositing it where it will not enter the atmosphere, normally an underground geological formation. 
 Simply disposing of the CO2 into the underground makes little sense when considering the processes possible in Industrial Biotechnology where you can produce valuable products from CO2.

Carbon captor and utilization (CCU) is the process of capturing waste carbon dioxide (CO2) from large point sources, such as fossil fuel power plants and its associated use in further chemical and biological processes in Industrial Biotechnology to produce valuable products. It is the replacement of the CCS process where CO2 is only disposed in the underground.
In contrast to CSS, this process offers many advantages because it actively participates in the production of new molecules, and does not simply want to sequest CO2.

Industrial Biotechnology is based on living cells like yeast, bacteria or algae. Cell-free biotechnology utilizes the biochemicals of the cell, without the disadvantages of the cell’s metabolism. Cell-free processing is the activation of complex biological processes without the use of living cells. Whether cell-free biotechnology will be able to displace fermentation by genetically modified organisms as a routine way of making chemicals remains to be seen.

Chemical building blocks see BBB

A process to break down polymers into individual monomers or other chemical feedstock that are then be used as building blocks to produce polymers again.

Compostable plastics can be biodegraded by microorganisms. Special bacteria give off enzymes which break down the material’s flexible polymer chains into small parts. These are then digested by the bacteria together with other organic material such as for example, organic waste. Water, carbon dioxide and biomass remain. Compostable polymers can, but need not be produced from renewable raw materials. They can also be based on crude oil. The biodegradability does not depend on the raw material, rather, it depends entirely on the chemical structure of the polymer.

Home compostable:

• Compostable in an uncontrolled environment (under naturally occurring conditions).

Industrially compostable:

• Compostable in a controlled environment.

See also biodegradable and oxo-degradable definitions.

Cracking refers to chemical processes that break down polymers into a wide range of hydrocarbon products. This can include thermal processes (e.g. pyrolysis, gasification) or catalytic cracking processes (e.g. pyrolysis, gasification) or catalytic cracking processes.

Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) is a genome-editing tool that has opened the door to a new generation of biomaterials and drugs.

In Industrial Biotechnology, CRISPR/Cas9 and further developped processes are used to change yeast, bacteria and algae in such a way as to create completely new molecules and products. The horrendous scientific development in this area is one of the main reasons for the success of Industrial Biotechnology and its rapid growth.

But what about safety?

In Industrial Biotechnology no genetically manipulated molecules are released. The gen-edited yeast, bacteria or algae is only a process aid and no genetically manipulated fragments can be detected in the desired end product.

Direct Air Capture are methods of extracting CO2 direct from the air using arrays of giant fans and chemicals to bind the CO2. This bond is dissolved with help of high temperatures and is then released from the filter and collected as concentrated CO2 gas to supply to customers or for negative emissions technologies.
See under CCU for further use of the captured CO2.

DARPA's (US-Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) Living Foundries project:
 Current and emerging Department of Defense (DoD) capabilities rely upon access to a number of critical, high-value molecules that are often prohibitively expensive, unable to be domestically sourced, and/or impossible to manufacture using traditional synthetic approaches. DARPA’s Living Foundries program aims to enable adaptable, scalable, and on-demand production of such molecules by programming the fundamental metabolic processes of biological systems to generate a vast number of complex molecules that are not otherwise accessible.

Design-Build-Test-Learn-Cycle 



The typical process for engineering a new molecule involves four highly specialized and interdependent disciplines and is called DBTL-cycle.

- Design:

Computer aided design and artificial intelligence to design the desired molecule

- Build:

Genome editing tools like CRISPR/Cas9 to build the designed molecule

- Test:

Robotic-tools and machine learning for cultivating the strains and to test to what extent the desired molecule was reached

- Learn:

Machine Learning and artificial intelligence to analyze the results, learn how the parameters has affected the result and take decisions for new parameters in the next cycles. 


Renewably sourced counterparts of fossil-based plastics currently in use (e.g. bio-PE for PE, bio-PET for PET), with the same chemical and physical properties.

Ethanol 2nd generation (also called advanced ethanol or 2G ethanol) is ethanol produced from lignocellulosic and bio-waste materials. The most well-developed production route is fermentation of the sugars, which become accessible by pre-treatment of the lignocellulose and subsequent hydrolysis of the sugar-containing cellulose fiber and hemicellulose fractions.

The starting material used in the manufacturing process. This may be a form of biomass, a crude or refined hydrocarbon product or byproduct from another process. In IBI-Index for high-value chemicals and products, feedstock can be edible. For Biofuels and other low-value products feedstock should be non-edible (cellulose, waste, CO2, algae).

A metabolic process that converts sugar into a product. 


- Batch-Fermentation: 
A fermentation processes in which nutrients are added to the bioreactor during cultivation with the product remaining in the bioreactor.


- Continuous-Fermentation: 
A fermentation process in which nutrients are added to the bioreactor continuously and the product is continuously removed from the bioreactor.

Genetic engineering is a process that alters the genetic make-up of an organism by either removing or introducing DNA. DNA can be introduced directly into the host organism or into a cell that is then fused or hybridized with the host. This relies on recombinant nucleic acid techniques to form new combinations of heritable genetic material followed by the incorporation of that material either indirectly through a vector system or directly through microinjection, macroinjection or micro-encapsulation.

Hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO), also known as “green diesel”, is produced from hydrotreating technology utilizing the same kinds of feedstocks that are used to make conventional biodiesel. Instead of reacting the feedstocks with methanol as in the conventional biodiesel process, they are reacted with hydrogen. The products of this reaction are diesel-length hydrocarbons -- green diesel -- and propane (as compared to glycerin as the biodiesel byproduct). About 3% of the world's 2014 biofuel volume was produced via this method.
Green diesel is a true hydrocarbon just like diesel and meets ASTM International’s standard for Diesel Fuel Oils (D-975). It has a different molecular structure from biodiesel, which is a methyl-ester. Because of this structural difference, renewable diesel is a superior product with a higher cetane index than typical ultra-low sulfur diesel (ULSD), and unlike biodiesel, an energy density value equivalent to ULSD. Green diesel can be distributed using the established petroleum pipeline system, while biodiesel requires truck or rail transport. Additionally, renewable diesel has no cold-flow issues and won’t thicken and clog engines in cold weather as may happen with biodiesel.

Any material is GHG-based if it is wholly or partly derived from greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide or methane. Any gaseous compound that is capable of absorbing infrared radiation. By trapping and holding heat in the atmosphere, greenhouse gases are responsible for the greenhouse effect, which ultimately leads to climate change.

HVO - Hydrotreated vegetable oil --- see Green Diesel

Industrial biotechnology is a set of practices that use living cells (such as bacteria, yeast, algae) or component of cells like enzymes, to generate high-value biochemicals and biofuels based on renewable feedstocks like biomass, waste-oil, cellulose-waste and GHG-waste gases. The main target is the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and moving away from a petrochemical-based economy.



Other definition:

Industrial biotechnology (known mainly in Europe as white biotechnology) is the application of biotechnology for industrial purposes to generate industrially useful biobased-products in sectors such as chemicals, food and feed, detergents, paper and pulp, textiles and biofuels. In doing so, biotechnology uses renewable raw materials (biomass or GHG-based feedstock).

Salts that are liquid below 100 ºC. They consist of various pairs of positively charged and negatively charged ions, and specific ionic liquids are known to be able to dissolve biomass and cellulose efficiently.

Isobutanol see Bio-Isobutanol

The DARPA (US-Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) Living Foundries program is working with many companies, national laboratories, and universities to develop new tools to enable rapid engineering of biology. It is tackling “impossible today” industrial projects that could become “possible” if we enable, scale, and rapidly prototype genetic designs and operating systems never before accessible for industrial production. And its most recent large-scale initiative, the 1,000 Molecules Project, seeks nothing short of a fundamental disruption of traditional chemicals and materials industries and processes by developing 1,000 new chemical building blocks for entirely new materials at the molecular scale and nanoscale in the next 3-5 years.

Metabolic engineering is the practice of optimizing genetic and regulatory processes within cells to increase the cells' production of a certain substance. These processes are chemical networks that use a series of biochemical reactions and enzymes that allow cells to convert raw materials into molecules necessary for the cell’s survival. Metabolic engineering specifically seeks to mathematically model these networks, calculate a yield of useful products, and pinpoint parts of the network that constrain the production of these products.[1] Genetic engineering techniques can then be used to modify the network in order to relieve these constraints. Once again this modified network can be modeled to calculate the new product yield. The ultimate goal of metabolic engineering is to be able to use these organisms to produce valuable substances on an industrial scale in a cost-effective manner.

Metabolic engineering is the science of rewiring the metabolism of cells to enhance production of native metabolites or to endow cells with the ability to produce new products

Until now municipal solid waste (MSW) in mainly used to generate energy. Different processes (pyrolysis, gasification and plasma arc gasification) are used to convert the combustible portion of the waste into Syngas (carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and hydrogen), which is then burned for energy production and thereby CO2 is emitted. Even if the processes are very clean today and no more dioxins are released, these processes release very large amounts of CO2 and should be replaced in the future.

Instead of burning the Syngas, it can be used in Industrial Biotechnology in a bacterial fermentation process to produce ethanol and high-value molecules.

Methanol-to-gasoline (MTG) chemistry was discovered by Mobil™ scientists in the 1970s. Over years of extensive studies and pilot plant operations, ExxonMobil developed an understanding of the MTG reactions and process conditions necessary to consistently produce motor gasoline from syngas. Synthesis gas (or syngas) is produced by gasification of carbon containing fuel to a gaseous product and is a mixture of carbon monoxide, hydrogen, and carbon dioxide. This gasification is accomplished by partial oxidation and/or reforming reactions in gasification and reforming units. Syngas can then be converted into hydrocarbons and oxygenates.

The most common technologies for converting syngas into liquids incorporate Fischer-Tropsch synthesis or Methanol synthesis (Methanol-to-Gasoline, MTG). Both Fischer-Tropsch and MTG routes can convert synthesis gas to liquid transportation fuels. However, their respective product slates are very different. The Fischer-Tropsch process typically produces a broad spectrum of straight-chain paraffinic hydrocarbons that can be further refined to produce commercial-quality gasoline, jet fuel, and diesel. In contrast, MTG selectively converts methanol to one liquid product: ultra-low-sulfur, low-benzene regular octane gasoline. MTG gasoline meets the requirements for conventional gasoline, is fully compatible with refinery gasoline and meets the ASTM D4814 Specification for Automotive Spark-Ignition Engine Fuel.

Oxo-biodegradation is defined as degradation resulting from oxidative and cell-mediated phenomena, either simultaneously or successively. Oxo-biodegradable plastics only disintegrate to smaller plastic fragments and loses mechanical properties upon exposure to strong light. Oxo-degradable plastics are not biodegradable and not compostable. They are not disintegrated to water, CO2 and Biomass. See also bio-degradable and compostable definition.

A process of thermochemical decomposition of organic material at elevated temperatures and in the absence of oxygen.

Derived from renewable sources (feedstocks), either biomass or captured greenhouse gases.

Renewable Natural Gas (RNG), also known as Sustainable Natural Gas (SNG) or biomethane, is a biogas which has been upgraded to a quality similar to fossil natural gas and having a methane concentration of 90% or greater. A biogas is a gaseous form of methane obtained from biomass. By upgrading the quality to that of natural gas, it becomes possible to distribute the gas to customers via the existing gas grid within existing appliances. Renewable natural gas is a subset of synthetic natural gas or substitute natural gas (SNG).

Renewable natural gas can be produced economically and distributed via the existing gas grid, making it an attractive means of supplying existing premises with renewable heat and renewable gas energy, while requiring no extra capital outlay of the customer. Renewable natural gas can be converted into liquefied natural gas (LNG) for direct use as fuel in transport sector. LNG would fetch good price equivalent to gasoline or diesel as it can replace these fuels in the transport sector.

The UK National Grid believes that at least 15% of all gas consumed could be made from matter such as sewage, food waste such as food thrown away by supermarkets and restaurants and organic waste created by businesses such as breweries.

Using the byproducts produced to generate the heat and power required to operate the unit

"Synthetic biology is the engineering of biology: the synthesis of complex, biologically based (or inspired) systems which display functions that do not exist in nature. This engineering perspective may be applied at all levels of the hierarchy of biological structures – from individual molecules to whole cells, tissues, and organisms. In essence, synthetic biology will enable the design of ‘biological systems’ in a rational and systematic way."

ETC:
Synthetic biology may be understood to involve various techniques of modern biotechnology that exercise control in the design, synthesis or redesign of new biological organisms, parts, devices and systems at the organismal, cellular or sub cellular level for applied purposes. Synthetic Biology is particularly associated with chemical synthesis of genetic sequences, genome editing techniques and an engineering-based approach to the construction of living organisms resulting in a range of products, living and non-living, and of differing characteristics

• Titer (g/L): Impacts equipment sizing and energy needs


In order to enable a high titer, it is important to ensure that the biocatalyst is tolerated toward the product of interest.


• Rate (g/L/h): Impacts of fermentors, plant capacity


To ensure a high rate it is necessary to have efficient enzymes that can sustain a high flux through the pathway that leads to the desired product.

• Yield (g/g): Feedstock cost, by-product cost in DSP


To ensure a high yield, it is necessary to make sure that carbon is not lost to competing pathways.

The waste vegetable oil (WVO) discarded from restaurants and food industry is a feedstock for biodiesel fuel. Many supporters propose that waste vegetable oil is the best raw material for biodiesel fuel production.

Processes based on an Ionic Liquids pretreatment for wood waste contaminated with metal and organic compounds like paint and preservatives.

A newly developed solvent that can dissolve biomass (cellulose) with low toxicity to microorganisms. The difference from an ionic liquid is that the positive charge and the negative charge are covalently bonded. This liquid zwitterion is the second one to be reported, but this is the first that has a carboxylate anion.