This book reviews the assessment of industrial biotechnology products and processes from a sustainable perspective. Industrial Biotechnology is a comparably young field which comes along with high expectations with regard to sustainability issues. These stem from the promise of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and replacing fossil resources in the near or later future and using green technology, i.e. more environmentally friendly technologies. The intended economic, ecological and social benefits, however, need to be proven, resulting in a variety of challenges, both from a methodological and application point of view.

In this book, specific assessment and application topics of industrial biotechnology are addressed, highlighting challenges and solutions for both developers and users of assessment methods. In twelve chapters, experts in their particular fields define the scope, characterize industrial biotechnology and show in their contributions the state of the art, challenges and prospects of assessing industrial biotechnology products and processes.

The chapter 'Societal and Ethical Aspects of Industrial Biotechnology' of this book is available open access under a CC BY 4.0 license at link.springer.com

Autorentext

Magnus Fröhling is a professor of circular economy at TU Munich (TUM). At the TUM Campus Straubing for Biotechnology and Sustainability he develops quantitative approaches for the analysis, assessment and planning of circular economy and bioeconomy systems, including technologies for recycling and biomass conversion, as well as biorefineries, production and recycling networks and global material cycles. From 2015 until 2018 Magnus Fröhling served as professor of business administration, especially resource management at TU Bergakademie Freiberg. He obtained his habilitation and teaching licence in business administration from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). Magnus Fröhling received a doctoral degree in business administration from Universität Karlsruhe (TH) and holds a diploma in industrial engineering and management from the same institution. Michael Hiete is professor for chemistry and management (business chemistry) at Ulm University, Germany since 2016. His interdisciplinary research interests include techno-economic and life cycle assessment, sustainable industrial value chains as well as sustainability issues of raw materials and resources. Further interests are the sustainable built environment and risk management. In his work he uses a wide range of mostly quantitative methods. From 2012 to 2015 Michael Hiete was professor for industrial ecology and technological change at the Center for Environmental Systems Research (CESR), Universität Kassel. He received a habilitation degree and teaching licence for business management and environmental systems analysis from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and holds a diploma degree in environmental and doctorate in geosciences, both from Technische Universität Carolo-Wilhelmina Braunschweig.

Inhalt

Part I: Introduction.- The Sustainability and Life Cycle Assessments of Industrial Biotechnology: An Introduction.- Part II: Background.- History, Current State, and Emerging Applications of Industrial Biotechnology.- Economic Aspects of Industrial Biotechnology.- Part III: Industrial Biotechnology from an Assessment Perspective.- Environmental Aspects of Industrial Biotechnology.- Societal and Ethical Aspects of Industrial Biotechnology.- Sustainability and Life Cycle Assessments in Industrial Biotechnology: A Review of Current Approaches and Future Needs.- Social Life Cycle Assessment for Industrial Biotechnology.- Part IV: Specific Methods and Applications.- Assessing Land Use and Biodiversity Impacts of Industrial Biotechnology.- Risk Assessment of Processes and Products in Industrial Biotechnology.- Green Chemistry and its Contributions to Industrial Biotechnology.- Application of geobiotechnology in mining, mineral processing and metal recycling.- Assessing Industrial Biotechnology Products with LCA and Eco-Efficiency.