The ability to "cut-and-paste" genes from one microorganism into another in order to mass-produce enzymes or desired chemical products is a pretty neat trick. In fact, it has been so good for chemical process industries that an entire new biotechnology business sector, that of industrial biotechnology, has emerged.
"Industrial biotechnology magnifies and expands nature's vast genetic database to improve manufacturing processes and to help make new products from renewable feedstocks," notes Brent Erickson, executive vice president for the Industrial & Environmental Section at the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO). Erickson has been spreading this message at a number of venues in the past few years.
Industrial biotechnology is the third sister of biotechnology, following on the heels of the now-established health care sector, which includes biopharmaceuticals, and the agricultural sector, which includes genetically modified crops. Although metabolic engineering of microorganisms is the driving technology, chemistry is still the essential ingredient for industrial biotech, and chemical scientists of all stripes and at all degree levels will have plenty of job opportunities in start-up companies created to develop new processes and products or in established companies that adopt new technologies.
A number of industrial biotech products are already widely used. For example, proteases are essential components of laundry detergents where they aid removal of proteins in food or grass stains, xylanase enzymes are replacing chlorine in pulp and paper bleaching to reduce chlorine use and energy consumption, and amylases are used to convert cornstarch into glucose which in turn is fermented by yeasts or bacteria to make ethanol.
Other industrial biotech products include bioplastics, semisynthetic drugs, modified vegetable oils for processed foods, biodiesel, biosurfactants, and commodity chemical feedstocks. As an example of the latter, Erickson points out that agribusiness giant Cargill is developing 3-hydroxypropionic acid derived from glucose rather than petroleum as a platform chemical to make acrylic acid, 1,3-propanediol, and other intermediates.
"Industrial biotech is already taking off and will be one of the key innovation drivers over the next 10 years in chemicals," Erickson says. There's still a "technology gap" where biotech tools are available but companies don't know about them or are not familiar enough with biology to adopt them, Erickson observes. But that gap is expected to close rapidly. By 2010, about 20% of the global chemical market will involve industrial biotech production, according to a study by consulting firm McKinsey & Co.
The big news of the moment is the development of cellulases to convert cellulose to sugars, which are then converted into ethanol for transportation fuels. Federal programs authorized by the Energy Policy Act of 2005 are designed to support R&D for biomass ethanol production, support private investment in biorefinery construction to make ethanol and other commodity chemicals, and provide monetary incentives for quick adoption of cellulosic ethanol for fuels. President George W. Bush, in this year's State of the Union Address, provided a jolt of momentum to the industrial biotech industry when he voiced support for cellulosic ethanol development to help ease U.S. dependence on imported crude oil.
The new energy law includes a federal renewable fuels standard that requires 7.5 billion gal per year of ethanol be blended with gasoline by 2012. Currently, about 12 billion gal of ethanol is produced worldwide and about 4 billion gal in the U.S., nearly all of it made from cornstarch. Overall, the global bioethanol market is expected to grow to nearly 30 billion gal annually by 2020, according to the Renewable Fuels Association. This increase coincides with an expected jump in the enzymes market from about $100 million to nearly $1.1 billion per year, according to company estimates.
The hot spots for jobs resulting from that growth likely will be at small to mid-sized companies as they develop and begin commercial production of enzyme-mediated products. Many of these companies are or will be located in farming regions to be near supplies of agricultural feedstocks.
And because of federal R&D support, many job opportunities related to industrial biotech are at national laboratories. The Department of Energy's Genomes to Life Roadmap has several programs focused on using genomics for cleaner energy production, environmental remediation, and carbon sequestration. Other DOE programs focus on developing biorefinery processes to produce fuels and commodity chemicals. Among these are the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy Office.
Danish firms Novozymes and Danisco's Genencor International division currently dominate the commercial enzymes field. These companies garner about 44% and 18%, respectively, of the enzymes market, notes Jerry Allen, employment manager of Novozymes North America, based in Franklinton, N.C. DSM and BASF each have roughly a 5% share, with the remainder of the market made up of a mix of companies, he says. Genencor was named "the Best Place to Work in America for 2005" for its human resource practices that contribute to attracting and retaining its workforce.
Novozymes has just over 400 employees in North America and more than 4,000 employees worldwide, Allen notes. The company has been adding more than 20 positions per year recently, as well as offering a few postdoctoral positions. These positions are a mix of research and "customer solution" tech support jobs at different degree levels but also include some production jobs.
