Carlos Eduardo Orrego Alzate: Biocatalysts and biomaterials in the context of Colombian Biorefineries
Carlos Eduardo Orrego Alzate, Director of the Institute of Biotechnology and Agroindustry (IBA Colombia), then spoke about Biocatalysts and biomaterials in the context of Colombian Biorefineries.
Mr Orrego started with an overview about the global enzyme markets, because enzymes are supposed to play an important role in the future bio economy. Of the growing markets (2015: 8.18 billion $ > 2024: 17.5 billion $), although at the moment still in the early growth phase, Latin America is projected to be the fastest growing market between 2016 and 2024. Then, figures about the plastics and composites market revealed, that in 2015 the global biocomposites market was estimated 438 million $ and is expected to reach 648 million $ in 2020.
Mr Orrego then showed the variety of feedstocks and products that can be obtained from biorefineries. More details were shown about applications, performance, sustainability and competitivity of biocomposites, and concrete examples of natural fibres and biocomposites were given.
Finishing, Mr Orrega spoke about enzyme immobilization, focusing on the hybrid matrix, food ingredients, emulsifiers and biodiesel, and the role of enzyme immobilization with regards to biocomposites.
Mr Orrega concluded that, if technology and market allow it, it seems logical to separate biomolecules of biomass sources instead of breaking sophisticated. The challenge remains, that despite a lot of research, the efficiency of the enzymes system for the deconstruction of plant polysaccharides is low and the amount of enzyme required is large. The biggest challenge identified by Mr Orrega is, that currently the competitiveness of most biorefinery processes needs to be supported by legislative provisions.