Volume 9, Issue 10

The pressing priority in designing sustainable materials has to focus on decreasing dependence on fossil fuel as well as utilization of environmentally friendly bio-based resources. In this respect, materials derived from biopolymers are competent in both aspects. While these materials tend to be biocompatible and biodegradable, they can be cultivated from natural renewable resources. To incorporate specific functionalities, these biopolymers can be chemically modified to form the metal based biopolymeric conjugates. Often these conjugates are designed as nano-entities, thereby, leading to their unique inherent properties. Characterization of these biopolymeric conjugates of metals encompass interdisciplinary analytical techniques like, UV–visible (UV–vis) spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, elemental (CHN) analysis, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, etc. In terms of applications, a wide variety of activity has been discovered by various research groups and hence these hybrid materials can be utilized as medications, pharmaceuticals, chemical catalysts, food packaging, electronics, and many more. Herein, a brief overview of different biopolymeric conjugates of diverse metals has been given, whereby their synthesis, characterization as well as their specific applications have been reviewed.

Itaconic acid is one of industrially important organic acid having wide application in environmental protection, food and textile industries. Microorganisms mainly fungi have vast potential to be exploited for itaconic acid production. But low yield and higher cost of production are major drawback creating a settle back for industrial production. This problem can be solved by using low cost organic waste as substrate. This review summarizes recent research on production of itaconic acid using organic wastes, microorganisms involved, extraction, application and problem faced during utilization of agro-industrial wastes.

Organic acids are key to the biological, physical, and chemical functions of the life. These acids naturally occur in animals, foods, and microorganisms. Their molecular configurations drive several physical characteristics imperative to well-being. Organic acids are applied in the pharmaceutical, cosmetic, cleaning and food industries. For decades, natural and chemical production of organic acids has thrived, however microbial fermentation has been considered environmentally sustainable approach. Various low-cost substrates are employed as substrate during microbial fermentation. The organic acids production from microbial origin account for the majority of the acids produced on a large industrial basis. Numerous organic acids from bacterial and fungal origin have significance and their biological production offers clear benefits as compared to chemical synthesis in terms of cost. The article illustrates a brief description of the various organic acids in a systematic way along with a survey on the relative production methods.

Biopolymers are natural polymers manufactured chemically or generated from biological materials. Biopolymers are a renewable and biodegradable resource. They can be found in various applications in food, manufacturing, packaging, and biomedical engineering industries. Biopolymers are attractive materials due to biocompatibility, biodegradability, natural abundance, and specific properties such as non-toxicity. Biopolymers can be classed on a variety of scales, including origin, the number of monomeric units, the basis of degradability, and heat response. Biopolymers have a wide range of uses due to their unique characteristics and topologies. Biopolymers are reinforced with diverse elements to improve their intended characteristics and practical applications. There is a conjugation of biopolymer with thermoplastic materials. Thermoplastic or thermoset plastic is a form of plastic polymer material that can be molded at a high temperature and solidifies upon cooling. Polylactic acid, polycarbonate, polyethylene, polypropylene, polyvinyl alcohol, and polyester are among the many thermoplastics. These thermoplastics were combined with biopolymers to increase their physical, mechanical, and thermal qualities. The works that investigated the conjugation of thermoplastic materials to biopolymers were discussed in this chapter.

Continuous bioprocesses have become a significant technological change in regulated industries, with process analytical technology (PAT) and quality-by-design (QbD) being essential for enabling continuous biomanufacturing. PAT and QbD are associated with process automation and control, providing real-time key process information. Continuous manufacturing eliminates hold times and reduces processing times, providing benefits such as improved product quality, reduced waste, lower costs, and increased manufacturing flexibility and agility. Over the past decade, advancements in science and engineering, along with the adoption of QbD and the advancement of PAT, have progressed the scientific and regulatory readiness for continuous manufacturing. Regulatory authorities support the implementation of continuous manufacturing using science- and risk-based approaches, providing a great deal of potential to address issues of agility, flexibility, cost, and robustness in the development of pharmaceutical manufacturing processes.

During current years, the industrial biotechnology area has grown at giant steps, supported by the necessity of a sustainable supply chain and the inevitable depletion of petrochemical feedstocks. From this accelerated growth, the need for the development of more efficient bioprocesses in term of productivity and cost has emerged. A substantial number of bioprocesses have their potential hindered by product inhibition, a phenomenon that appears due to microbial metabolites produced in concentrations that become toxic even for the producing microorganism. In situ product recovery (ISPR) appears as a strategy to overcome such problems by primary recovery stage to the upstream, thus continuously extracting a desired or undesired target molecule from the fermentation broth as soon as it is produced. In this chapter, we will review the inherent advantages of implementing this technology in the production process, not only in terms of productivity, but also in equipment. A revision across the main the ISPR technologies can be found, explaining their main mechanisms and configurations, the appropriate scenarios to use each one and the main factors that must be considered that affect process efficiency. The chapter will be divided into three parts according to the types of ISPR that are reviewed, liquid–liquid, solid–liquid and gas–liquid techniques. Some recent trends and further perspectives for each method are also mentioned leaving space for further analysis of these technologies.

Biopolymeric conjugate units are the next-generation material having maximum appreciable attributes such as biodegradability, biocompatibility, non-toxic, bioadhesive, and bioavailability. The usage of biopolymers promotes green chemistry and sustainable development hence limiting the overgrowing toxic materials harming the environment. In addition, polynucleotide conjugates increase the efficiency of the biopolymeric conjugate unit due to their supramolecular structure. Polynucleotide conjugates comprising chitosan, peptide, cyclodextrin, hyaluronic acid, gelatin, phenanthridine, and metallocene are common conjugates with polynucleotides. The synthesis process depends on the use of substrate and available conjugates. However click chemistry involving a series of steps can be preferably used for the development of conjugated, while the new method of cycling using the Garratt–Braverman cyclization approach combined with Sonogashira cross-coupling reaction can also be used as an alternative to click chemistry. Peptide coupling, N-methylation, reductive amination, acylation reaction, and layer-by-layer can be used to fabricate polynucleotide/biopolymeric conjugates. Considering the applicability aspect of the developed polynucleotide conjugates then preferably the biomedical field has witnessed more of its usage followed by its utility as a catalyst and detection and sensor probes. Especially, RNA technology has made a preferable place as a conjugate because of its intrinsic coding, and expression of genes in the natural environment. Therefore, polynucleotide/biopolymeric conjugates can be successfully employed to achieve the required results in the desired fields.

Strategies to reduce cost and emission profiles are becoming increasingly important for the development of affordable and sustainable bio-based production. The overall objective of process intensification in different industries is to achieve substantial benefits in terms of cost, product concentration and quality, while eliminating waste and improving process safety. Intensification of bioprocesses could be a valuable tool for enhancing the efficiency and reducing resource consumption in bioproduction. In general, bioprocess intensification is defined as an increase in bioproduct output relative to cell concentration, time, reactor volume or cost. This brief overview provides a definition of process intensification in biotechnology, presents several general and specific examples, and addresses some of the current challenges.

We report the outcomes of the second session of the free online open-access workshop “Computational Applications in Secondary Metabolite Discovery (CAiSMD) 2022” that took place from 09 to 11 March 2022. The first session was held from 08 to 10 March 2021 and drew the attention of many early career scientists from academia and industry. The 23 invited speakers of this year’s workshop also came from academia and industry and 222 registered participants from five continents (Africa, Asia, Europe, South, and North America) took part in the workshop. The workshop highlighted the potential applications of computational methodologies in the search for secondary metabolites or natural products as drug candidates and drug leads. For three days, the participants of this online workshop discussed modern computer-based approaches for exploring NP discovery in the “omics” age. The invited experts gave keynote lectures, trained participants in hands-on sessions, and held round table discussions. These were followed by oral presentations during which much interaction between the speakers and the audience was observed. Selected applicants (early-career scientists) were offered the opportunity to give oral presentations (15 min) upon submission of an abstract. The final program available on the workshop website (https://indiayouth.info/index.php/caismd) comprised three keynote lectures, 14 oral presentations, two round table discussions, and four hands-on sessions. This meeting report also references internet resources for computational biology around secondary metabolites that are of use outside of the workshop areas and will constitute a long-term valuable source for the community.

Green chemistry involves designing environmentally benign processes that either reduce or eliminate the use and production of hazardous substances in the production of safe chemical products. It aims at minimising waste; eliminating costly treatments; minimising energy and resource consumption, and yielding safer products. On this background, it becomes imperative to promote and establish Green chemistry worldwide, especially in developing countries by incorporating it into school curricula, thus placing it at its core for sustainable development purposes. While Zimbabwe, a sub-Saharan country, has made positive strides in key research areas such as the design of new chemicals, catalysis, solvents, renewable materials, and feedstocks, it still faces some challenges that inhibit the successful inception of the concept of green chemistry. An overview that includes educational curriculum, grants and awards, research, infrastructure, and facilities established to promote green chemistry research and education; challenges currently being faced in implementing the approaches and principles in selected universities; the role played by government bodies, and the public in influencing the criteria to promote the green chemistry concept is given.