Biotechnology Advancements that Enable Sustainability in the Chemicals Industry: Technology Growth Opportunities

Biotechnology Advancements that Enable Sustainability in the Chemicals Industry: Technology Growth Opportunities

Chemicals is a highly regulated industry, and it serves as the backbone of several other end-user sectors, including construction, transportation, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, and agriculture. Although the industry is a leading revenue generator, globally, digitalization, product portfolio diversification, enriched social responsibility, and sustainability have created a major impact on sales and revenue and pushed the industry to transform and acclimatize to the rising trend of innovation. Unlike digitalization and social interactions that affect sales and commercialization, sustainability is a global factor driving innovation in the chemicals industry due to rising consumer awareness of and demand for sustainable products. In addition, government regulations are pushing the industry to adopt sustainable production practices, which will result in a minimal impact on the environment.

Biotechnology is a branch of science that modifies biological organisms, processes, and systems for the development of innovative products. Biotechnology tools, including genetic engineering, bioprocess management, enzyme engineering, molecular biology, and synthetic biology, enhance process efficiency and facilitate product formation. Biotechnology also enables energy savings, aids CO2 emission reduction, facilitates bioproduct innovation, and enables waste management. It is a rapidly evolving industry that is seeing a wave of innovation, start-up funding, sophisticated gene-editing approaches, and integrated computational methods.

Fermentation of microbes to produce alcohols, organic acids, and proteins has been a global industrial practice for large-scale production. Similarly, the use of biocatalysts for the transformation of stereoselective compounds and active ingredients is widely used as a replacement for metal catalysts. Although biotechnology has evolved into a powerful tool that can be used to develop bioproducts through transformative process and design strategies, its use in chemical industries or chemical processes has been slow, which can be attributed to the robust operational capabilities of the chemicals industry that limits transformational advancements.

The use of innovative technologies such as synthetic biology, gene editing, and enzyme engineering is growing, and companies and start-ups are applying them in the design and synthesis of microbial constructs, thereby enabling bio-based product formation. Furthermore, the use of computational tools to screen and analyze large biological datasets and biosystem interactions is showcasing rapid design validation and production. Therefore, the increased efficiency and specificity of biotechnological tools holds significant potential to move the chemicals industry toward sustainability. Biotechnology also allows the use of renewable resources as feedstock and efficiently recycles or upcycles industrial waste and bioproducts through engineered enzymes without impacting the quality of life. Biotechnology can also decouple economic growth by diversifying product portfolios through demand-driven production with clean ingredients that can be recycled in future. The production of active ingredients, functional chemicals, and alternative proteins minimizes the use of land, water, and energy, thereby enhancing sustainability.

This research service focuses on identifying biotechnology approaches and tools that will transform the chemicals industry. The study offers insight into technology, challenges, and adoption strategies for chemical production processes and their impact on sustainability. The commercial landscape of biotechnological advancements in food safety and tracking is also examined. Frost & Sullivan has also identified key areas of biotechnology advancements, including process engineering strategies such as biocatalysis and fermentation and design engineering approaches such as strain engineering and -omics technologies.

The research service answers the following questions:
Which factors are driving the large-scale adoption of advanced biotechnology processes in the chemicals industry? ?
What initiatives are industry participants undertaking to accelerate adoption??
What are the expected outcomes of biotechnology tools and approaches in comparison to existing chemical processes and strategies??
How do biotechnology advancements help to achieve a circular economy and sustainability goals? ?
What challenges is the chemicals industry facing in terms of the adoption of biotechnology?