Ch. 5— The Chemical Industry • 97 
U’c'linolo^it's should make il |)ossihle lo engineer 
organisms that ran ferment at liigli tempera- 
tures (82° to 85° (') so that tlie fermentation and 
at least part of the distillation can both take 
place in the same reactor.* Various technol- 
' I hi-rmophilic t'lhiiiuil |ii'U(liK t‘r.'< h.iu' ,ilriM(l\ hi'cn (Icm i iIxhI 
ill ihr ucmiN t lostridiiim li.iv tht-rmoi rlliim) In acldilinn. Hi'niMi- 
r.tIK (•nfiini‘rti'<l ilt'sn'ihnil a> a cms.^ hclwcfn mmsI.s 
.uul lIuM'iiuiphilic l>a('U'na can li'rnicnl at 70° C 
An overview of impacts 
I'he cost of raw materials may become cheap- 
er than the petroleum now used— especially if 
cellulose con\ ersion technologies can he de\el- 
oped, I'he source of raw materials would also 
he broader since se\ eral kinds of biomass could 
he interchanged, if necessaiy. I’oi' small (|uan- 
tities of chemicals, the I'aw material su|)ply 
would he more dependable, particularly be- 
cause of the domestic supph of available bio- 
mass. For substances produced in large quanti- 
ties, such as ethanol, the su[)ply of biomass 
could limit the usefulness of hiotechnologv. 
Raw materials, such as organic wastes, could 
he piocessed both to produce products and 
reduce pollution. .Nevertheless, the impact on 
total imported petroleum w ill he low . Estimates 
of the current consumption of petroleum as a 
raw material for industrial chemicals is appro.x- 
imately 5 to 8 percent of the total imported. 
Impacts on the process include relatively 
cheaper production costs for selected com- 
pounds. For these, lower temperatures and 
pressures can be used, suggesting that the proc- 
esses might be safer. Chemical pollution from 
hiotechnologv' may be lower, although methods 
of disposal or new uses must be found for the 
micro-organisms used in fermentation. Finally, 
the biological processes will demand the devel- 
opment of new technologies for the separation 
and purification of the products. 
Impacts on the products include both cheaper 
existing chemicals as well as entirely new prod- 
ucts. Since biotechnology is the method of 
choice for producing enzymes, new uses for en- 
ogies, such as the immobilization of whole cells 
in reactoi' columns, could he tleveloped in paral- 
lel vv ith genetic technologies to increase the sta- 
hilitv of cells in fermenters. 
rlu‘ iiiK ol such ihcmiophilic leniu'iilations are sif'iiili- 
cani: lernienlalion lime is I'unsiderahlv I'eiluced: Ihe risk ol con- 
lamination is nearly eliminated: and cooling re(|uirements are 
lower due lo Ihe high(-r temperature ol' the rermenting hioth. 
zv Hies may expand and drive this sector of the 
industry. 
Impacts on other industries 
.Although genetic engineering will develop 
new techniques for synthesizing many sub- 
stances, the direct displacement of any present 
industry appears to he doubtful: Genetic engi- 
neering should he considered simply another in- 
dusti'ial tool. As such, any industry's response 
should he to use this technique to maintain its 
positions in its respectiv e markets. The point is 
illustrated by the variety of companies in the 
pharmaceutical, chemical, and energy indus- 
tries that have invested in or contracted with 
genetic engineering firms. Some large com- 
panies are already developing inhouse genetic 
engineering research capabilities. 
The frequent, popular reference to the small, 
innovative “genetic engineering companies” as a 
major new industry is somewhat misleading. 
The companies (see table 14) arose primarily to 
convert micro-organisms with little commercial 
use into micro-organisms with commercial po- 
tential. A company such as the Cetus Corp. ini- 
tially used mutation and selection to improve 
strains, whereas other pioneers such as Genen- 
tech, Inc., Biogen, S. A., and Genex Corp. were 
founded to exploit recombinant DNA (rDNA) 
technology. Part of their marketing strategy in- 
cludes the sale or licensing of genetically engi- 
neered organisms to large established commer- 
cial producers in the chemical, pharmaceutical, 
food, energy, and mining industries. Each engi- 
