The term biotechnology refers to any technological application that uses biological systems and living organisms or their derivatives to create or modify products or processes for specific uses.
In this sense, biotechnology becomes an opportunity to replace chemical processes with new more environmentally friendly, more efficient and sustainable processes, based on the use of renewable raw materials. Thus, science and engineering enable the development of industrial processes to boost greener chemistry, both to obtain chemical products and biofuels. The challenge of biotechnology is therefore to achieve transformations that create products with higher added value than those currently on the market.
Biotechnology applied to the plastics sector can replace oil-based products and can be used in processes and for the development of biomonomers, bioplastics and biofuels. It provides a broad range of very powerful tools and has brought with it a large number of success stories, such as:
Therefore, biotechnology offers great opportunities for the synthesis of new polymeric materials. In addition, renewable resources such as biomass can often be used as a starting substrate for enzymatic polymerization, thus closing the circle for the development of entirely sustainable materials.
Ferran Martí
R&D Manager