Role of biotechnology in sustainability of chemical industry

The global chemical industry has contributed immensely to achieve the present quality of life, but is under increasing pressure to change current working practices in favour of greener alternatives. Chemical industry include its excessive reliance on nonrenewable energy and resources, environmentally damaging production processes that can be unsafe and produce toxic products and waste products that are not readily recyclable and degradable after their useful life and excessive regional concentration of production so that social benefits of production are less widely available. Industrial sustainability aims to achieve sustainable production and processing within the context of ecological and social sustainability.

Sustainable development is… a process of change in which the exploitation of resources, the direction of investments, the orientation of technological development, and institutional change are all in harmony and enhance both current and future potential to meet human needs and aspirations without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own need. Environmental concerns help drive the use of biotechnology in industry, to not only remove pollutants from the environment but prevent pollution in the first place. Biocatalysis operates at lower temperatures, produces less toxic waste, fewer emissions and by-products compared to conventional chemical processes.