Process Industries 2

1Bio-industry in the Age of the Transition to Digital Technology: Significance and Recent Advances

Chapter written by Philippe JACQUES.

1.1. Introduction

Bio-industry involves living organisms, mainly microorganisms, bacteria*¹ and fungi*, and develops products for the agrifood industry (yeasts*, lactic ferments*, enzymes*, etc.), the pharmaceutical industry (vaccines, antibiotics, etc.), agriculture (biopesticides*, biostimulants*, etc.), the environment (microorganisms for water, air and soil depollution, etc.), chemical industries (synthons*, biodegradable polymers, biosurfactants*, etc.). The markets concerned by these products are steadily increasing by several percent each year. For example, fine chemicals originating from fermentation were estimated at $24 billion in 2017, with a yearly increase of 3.4% over the 2017–2022 period (source: BCC).

The beginnings of bio-industry are probably in brewing beer in Mesopotamia, about 6,000 years ago, and wine production in Egypt as early as the Middle Predynastic period, more than 5,000 years ago (Figure 1.1). Over thousands of years, microorganisms have been used to produce (alcoholic beverages) or preserve (fermented products) numerous foods and have been used in processes such as flax retting (an operation that involves exploiting the production capabilities of hydrolytic enzymes in soil microorganisms to isolate the fibers of flax stems) without the people utilizing them even noticing their existence.

Figure 1.1. Evolution ...