The development of knowledge in the life sciences and the challenges of climate change are giving rise to the bioeconomy – the use of living organisms to produce many goods and services, going beyond agriculture for history and fisheries. The bioeconomy is a cornerstone for transitioning from a non-renewable to a renewable economy. Eventually, it will be a big sector in the economy. However, building the bioeconomy will require investment in research, development, commercialization, and the establishment of new industries. The National Science Foundation is very excited about the bioeconomy. It established multiple centers to advance bioeconomy research, and now Berkeley is given the grant to develop the International Bioeconomy Macroalgae Centre, which the EBI will administer. There are further efforts to provide large sums of money for research and development of new bioeconomy sectors, and I have distinguished between several of them.
The green bioeconomy relies on terrestrial flora and farming. It will depend on plants and animals to produce much more than food, fiber, leather, meat, and wood. It will expect plants to provide feedstock for fuel, medicine, chemicals, and construction and play a major role in sequestering carbon. Improved technical capacity will allow the production of more traditional agricultural products with fewer resources. We have both technological and policy challenges, namely to improve technologies and get them accepted and adopted. I believe that it’s possible. The green bioeconomy is producing many residue products that include many valuable resources.
The brown bioeconomy is reusing and recycling residue materials as feedstock to produce other materials, including food for humans and animals and new sources of waste. Many of our systems are linear, where inputs produce outputs and residues, and many residues are pollution sources. The brown economy is the key to circularity. Insects can digest food residue to produce protein and other products used to feed livestock and pets and replace fish meal. Animal waste can be used as a source of methane (a fuel). Tree waste can be converted to biochar, providing energy and enhancing soil quality. Metals, fertilizers, plastics, and clothes can be recycled and reused to reduce pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. But there are a lot of challenges along the way. Efficient and sustainable ways of collecting residues, conversion technologies, and consumer acceptance – science and policy must meet these challenges to build the green bioeconomy.
The white bioeconomy will consist of biomanufacturing in labs, greenhouses, and factories. Biomanufacturing has already resulted in various medical applications (tissue engineering, stem cells, insulin), and the pharmaceutical industries rely more heavily on bioengineering all the time. California, Bay Area, and Berkeley are the centers of bioengineering, and it’s likely to increase. As I understand, plants can effectively produce vaccines and other drug components. Bioengineering can produce new materials for construction (enhancing wood capacity, sequestering carbon, and eliminating high GHG emissions of building materials). Scientists speak about using bioengineering to create some forms of computer memory. So, this is one type of direction that is only starting but has immense potential. The white bioeconomy will benefit from new knowledge in microbiology as we know the capacity of microbes from different sources better. Microbes can be sources of industrial catalysts, conversion of feedstocks to fuels, and various chemicals, including pharmaceuticals. Our limited understanding of the microbiome – all the microbes that live on and in our bodies and affect us substantially, suggests new opportunities for beneficial products.
Finally, the blue bioeconomy utilizes fish, algae, and other water creatures as feedstocks and means to produce multiple goods and beneficial functions. Algae of different types have promising prospects. I have been studying the commercialization of microalgae, realizing how accumulating knowledge in this area leads to commercial applications. In the 1960s, scientists discovered a microalga that, in highly saline water, contains a high volume of beta-carotene. This discovery led to the founding of firms producing natural beta-carotene products in Australia, Israel, and the US. The industry also developed processes to grow, harvest, and process beta-carotene. After thirty years of experimentation- in 2022, the natural beta-carotene generated $300 million in revenues. The technologies it contributed to developing helped other microalgae-based products, such as food sources and ingredients for cosmetics and pharmaceuticals.
Our center at Berkeley plans to work on macro-algae. Macroalgae consists of seaweed that lacks lignin and grows much faster than sugarcane. Therefore, it has significant potential to produce fuels and other valuable products. Seaweed sequesters substantial amounts of carbon and may play a significant role in mitigating climate change. Relatively, not much is known about seaweed and its uses. Still, the potential for obtaining multiple benefits from these products is vast. Our center is global, and we plan to partner with scholars from Canada, Korea, and Scotland, among others. This center and future resources allocated for blue bioeconomy research will make this a significant area of emphasis on campus (some of the research may be conducted in the Richmond research station). Hopefully, the Berkeley campus will hire a few researchers, and together, we will make a difference in real life.