Page 153 - Biorefinery 2030 Future Prospects for the Bioeconomy (2015)

Glossary of Selected Scientific and Technical Terms 121

especially carbohydrates, by microorganisms.Source:
FAO, n.d.
Industrial Techniques employing biological systems for the production,
biotechnology processing or degradation of molecules through enzymatic
processes or fermentation, for industrial purposes.
Intermediate Chemical intermediates are biomolecules that have no specific
chemicals end use, but which are used to produce a number of
chemicals with an end use.Source: ADEME
Lignin An organic polymer, part of the cell wall of plants and red
algae. In plants, lignin provides structural strength and
assists with water transport.Source: OECD (2009)
Renewable Energies using and exploiting the energy of wind, sun,
energy moving water, biomass (including wood), the internal
heat of the earth (geothermal) etc. The use of renewable
energy is unlimited in time, unlike fossil fuels.Source:
ADEME
Sustainable Development that meets the needs of the present without
development compromising the ability of future generations to meet
theirs. Applied to the economy, it has three dimensions:
economic (efficiency, profitability), social (social respon-
sibility) and environmental (environmental impact).
Source: ADEME
Scaling up Extrapolation of a bioprocess from the laboratory to industrial
scale. At present, many problems limit scaling-up: the
unpredictability of heat and mass transfer phenomena,
contamination problems, the development of inhibitors,
the lack of data on pilot plants etc.Source: IAR
Solvents Solvents are biomolecules that have the property of
dissolving, suspending or extracting other materials with-
out causing chemical changes in these substances and
without changing themselves. Solvents are mainly pro-
duced from vegetable oils or esters (sunflower, soybean
etc.), or obtained from the fermentation of organic acid
esters (acetic, citric, lactic etc.).Source: ADEME
Surfactants Surfactants are amphiphilic biomolecules that, depending on
their structure, possess emulsifying, softening, wetting or
detergent properties. The lipophilic group may be derived
from oleochemical feedstock produced from rapeseed, sun-
flower, palm etc. The hydrophilic group can come from
by-products of the starch industry or sugar (sugar beet,
maize or other grains).Source: ADEME