Abstract
In this work new methods of processing bio-feedstocks in the formulated consumer products industry are discussed. Our current approach to formulated products design is based on heuristic knowledge of formulators that allows selecting individual compounds from a library of available materials with known properties. We speculate that most of the compounds (or functions) that make up the product to be designed can potentially be obtained from a few bio-sources. In this case, it may be possible to design a sequence of transformations required to convert feedstocks into products with desired properties, analogous to a metabolic pathway of a complex organism. We conceptualize some novel approaches to processing bio-feedstocks with the aim of bypassing the step of a fixed library of ingredients. Two approaches are brought forward: one making use of knowledge-based expert systems and the other making use of applications of metabolic engineering and dynamic combinatorial chemistry.
Highlights
Global uncertainty over prices of petrochemical feedstocks and the desire to significantly reduce the levels of anthropogenic generation of CO2 are the two main drivers behind current rapid development of a replacement supply chain for platform molecules of the chemistry using industries (Perlack et al, 2005; Graham, 2007)
The emerging question is whether our existing methods of product design in formulations and other chemistry-using industries are appropriate for the new developing supply chain based on sustainable renewable feedstocks
An attempt was made to conceptualize some novel approaches to processing bio-feedstocks with the aim of bypassing the step of a fixed library of ingredients
Summary
Global uncertainty over prices of petrochemical feedstocks and the desire to significantly reduce the levels of anthropogenic generation of CO2 are the two main drivers behind current rapid development of a replacement supply chain for platform molecules of the chemistry using industries (Perlack et al, 2005; Graham, 2007). As more bio-derived molecules with a variety of different functionalities, are added to the existing supply chain of ingredients, and the corresponding information (the molecules and the starting materials that were used in creating them) is transferred into the existing chemical knowledge, it becomes increasingly possible that synthetic routes connecting bio-feedstocks with new products having desired properties, will be found using expert systems. The aim of this paper is to conceptualize approaches to consumer product design that are not reliant on the formulator’s experiential knowledge of combining known ingredients into recipes, but, rather, either employ expert systems to interrogate the existing chemical knowledge and, extract favorable reaction routes, or, by taking advantage of advances made in the fields of metabolic engineering and dynamic combinatorial chemistry, evolve the product generating process until the output product displays the desired properties.
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