Industrial processes have helped to build the modern world in which we live by generating a variety of valuable products, including commodity chemicals, plastics, and petrol. However, these processes typically require the use of fossil fuels, which are environmentally harmful to extract and emit greenhouse gases when processed.
Increasingly, biotech is being used to address concerns that traditional industrial processes are unsustainable and contribute to global warming via carbon emissions. The goal would be to continue to satisfy consumer demand, while reducing the harmful impact on the environment, by exploiting biotech, rather than synthetic or chemical methodology. Beyond providing more sustainable approaches, biotech alternatives have the potential to be even more efficient and safer than their traditional counterparts.
Improving the sustainability of industrial processes
Innovators recognise that ‘bioproduction’ – the use of living cells or organisms to produce useful products – has the potential to reduce the environmental impact of, or even entirely replace, traditional industrial methodology.
For many years, a key focus of biotech in industry has been the production of biofuels from renewable sources. In this way, biotech innovation is minimising the carbon footprint associated with the industrial production of petrol, which traditionally requires industrial-scale refinement of fossil fuels. For example, the biomass from seaweeds is being used in processes that generate biofuels, providing a more sustainable way to keep the world moving.
The breadth of utility of biotech innovation in industrial processes (i.e., industrial biotechnology) is expanding. Indeed, microbial fermentation of organic materials is being used to generate useful commodity chemicals, the basic raw materials used in the manufacture of a range of consumer goods. In the sector coined “white biotech”, microorganisms are being used to generate, among other things, precursor chemicals, the fundamental building blocks of more complex compounds, which have typically been obtained only from the processing of non-renewable sources. Bluestem Biosciences, for example, uses fermentation of modified microorganisms to generate 3‑hydroxypropionic acid. This monomeric compound can be polymerised to form biodegradable plastics or can be exploited as a renewable precursor for the production of acrylic acid, polymers of which have diverse uses, for example in the automotive and construction industries, and in water treatment. Engineered bacteria are also being exploited to produce high-strength spider silk which can be used as a raw material to manufacture medical devices and clothing. This method of production is much more sustainable than traditional approaches of silk production, justifying its recognition by the European Patent Office (EPO) in their European Inventor Award nominations.
In the field of agriculture, rather than using modified organisms to produce chemical fertilisers, innovators are aiming to cut out industrial processing altogether. For example, modified nitrogen-fixing bacteria are being developed to provide microbial biofertilisers to supplement plant growth directly. These advances could completely eradicate the need for industrial fertiliser production, which typically requires carbon-intensive processing of non-renewable raw materials.
Moreover, innovators are exploiting plant-derived materials, such as starch, to develop sustainable and biodegradable packaging, in an effort to circumvent the industrial production of polymers for single-use plastics. The EPO has recognised the important role of patents and innovation in the area of bioplastics, as detailed in their 2021 study here. Future articles in this series will consider further the advances in biofuels, bioplastics, and the impact of biotech on agriculture.
Biotech-based processes can be more efficient and safer than their traditional counterparts
The beauty of working with microorganisms and their components is their versatility and genetic malleability. Innovators can modify the genomes of microorganisms, or design enzymes or proteins to achieve specific ends. Genetic manipulation of microorganisms used in industrial processes can allow the production of new chemicals, and modifications may be used to bias the utilisation of specific metabolic pathways by the microbe. This can further improve the efficiency, and ultimately the yield, of the process. Furthermore, enzymes can be redesigned for exploitation when isolated from their natural context. Such enzymes are being used to more efficiently produce small molecule drugs, which classically requires multiple energy-intensive steps.
Biotech innovations are also providing safer solutions in the pharmaceutical and agricultural sectors. Specifically designed enzymes are being used as catalysts in reactions that previously used volatile chemicals or environmentally damaging metal-based compounds, such as those involving the combination of alcohols and amines (e.g., to generate pharmaceutical and agricultural compounds with a C-N bond). Accordingly, biocatalysts provide biodegradable, non-toxic alternatives to traditional catalysts, thus improving the safety of industrial-scale production processes, while also minimising generation of harmful waste products.
Therefore, biotech innovations are targeting multiple aspects of traditional industrial processes, from the provision of source materials to the development of mediators and catalysts of these processes. These solutions are more sustainable than their traditional counterparts from an emissions perspective, and also represent more efficient and safer alternatives to classical industrial methodology, providing a profoundly positive impact on the planet.
Options for patent applicants
There are opportunities for applicants to patent new and inventive industrial processes. Examples include fermentation processes involved in the generation of precursor chemicals, biofuels, or small molecule therapeutics. Often these new processes are underpinned by genetically modified microorganisms, and patent protection may be available for the microorganism per se.
As discussed above, modified enzymes made in a host organism can be used in isolation, for example as biocatalysts, in industrial processes, and the modified enzymes or processes exploiting these products may be protected provided they are new and inventive.
Additionally, while the utility of plants in industry has been recognised, plant varieties per se are not eligible for patent protection, but genetic manipulation can play a role in adapting plants for use in different processes. These modified plants, along with methods of making or using such plants, could be subject to patent protection.
A bright future
This article presents a tiny number of the many possible ways in which biotech innovation is being exploited to provide alternatives to traditionally energy and carbon-intensive industrial processes. We watch with interest to see what new applications will emerge in the future, and the progress these applications will make towards global sustainability goals. Of course, patent protection in this sector will continue to be of crucial importance in driving innovation and achieving these goals.
Our interdisciplinary teams at Carpmaels & Ransford LLP have expertise in a range of areas, including biotech and chemistry, as well as in the clean energy sector. This makes us uniquely suited to support our clients working in the biotech and sustainability sector, and across a broad range of applications.
