title: Past, present, and future industrial biotechnology in China.
abstract: Fossil resources, i.e. concentrated carbon from biomass, have been irrecoverably exhausted through modern industrial civilization in the last two hundred years. Serious consequences including crises in resources, environment and energy, as well as the pressing need for direct and indirect exploitation of solar energy, pose challenges to the science and technology community of today. Bioenergy, bulk chemicals, and biomaterials could be produced from renewable biomass in a biorefinery via biocatalysis. These sustainable industries will match the global mass cycle, creating a new form of civilization with new industries and agriculture driven by solar energy. Industrial biotechnology is the dynamo of a bioeconomy, leading to a new protocol for production of energy, bulk chemicals, and materials. This new mode of innovation will place the industry at center stage supported by universities and research institutes. Creativity in industrial biotechnology will be promoted and China will successfully follow the road to green modernization. China's rapid economic development and its traditional capacity in fermentation will place it in an advantageous position in the industrial biotechnology revolution. The development and current status of industrial biotechnology in China are summarized herein.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Materials-Oriented Chemical Engineering, College of Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Engineering, Nanjing University of Technology, Nanjing, 210009, China. zjli@njut.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Zhenjiang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Xiaojun
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ji
authors.forename: Suli
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kan
authors.forename: Hongqun
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Qiao
authors.forename: Min
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Dingqiang
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: He
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Honghua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jia
authors.forename: Pingkai
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ouyuang
authors.forename: Hanjie
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ying
mesh_terms: D056804:Biofuels; D001688:Biological Products / Q000737:chemistry*; D001709:Biotechnology / Q000639:trends*; D002617:Chemical Industry / Q000639:trends*; D002681:China; D004345:Drug Industry / Q000639:trends*; D055772:Green Chemistry Technology / Q000639:trends*
chemical_list: D056804:Biofuels; D001688:Biological Products