What is a biomanufactured product?
A biomanufactured product is a product or technology that is produced using biological systems, organisms, or their components rather than traditional chemical or mechanical manufacturing processes. These products are created by harnessing biological processes and systems to produce materials, chemicals, or other useful products.
Is biomanufacturing a type of biotechnology?
Biotechnology is the broader discipline - the science and technology behind exploring and tailoring biological systems to produce a specific product.
Biomanufacturing is the specific industrial application or production aspect of biotechnology—the actual process of using biological systems to produce commercial quantities of products. Biomanufacturing scales and implements biotechnology for manufacturing purposes.
Featured Bioproducts
Materials
Biomanufacturing uses biological processes, like fermentation, to produce materials from renewable resources instead of fossil fuels. This approach offers an alternative way to create materials like nylons, commonly used in textiles, electronics, and other products.
Flavorings
Flavorings can be biomanufactured using biological systems like microorganisms or enzymes. This approach offers advantages like producing "natural flavors" from renewable resources, while achieving better taste and nutrient profiles than chemical synthesis.
Chemicals/Resins
Chemicals and plastics can be produced using biological systems like bacteria, fungi, or algae, rather than traditional chemical processes. Biochemicals can be used to create resins, bioplastics, food/feed, biofuels, and various other products.
Fertilizers
Biomanufactured fertilizers contain living microorganisms that promote plant growth by affixing nitrogen from the air and enhancing nutrient availability. "Bio-fertilizers" are an alternative to petrochemical fertilizers, and enhance crop yield and soil health more sustainably.
Value Proposition
Biomanufacturing has the potential to produce a vast number of products spanning industries as diverse as energy, agriculture, chemicals, materials, fabrics, nutrition, and biologics.
Biomanufacturing technologies are continuously advancing, enabling the production of stickier resins, better fertilizers, healthier flavorings, more durable nylon, and sustainable plastics.
Biomanufacturing offers outsized domestic economic benefits, with a high return on investment that creates domestic jobs and spill-over benefits that improve our economic and national security.
National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology:
"The choice is stark: do nothing and accept defeat, or act swiftly and give America a fighting chance."