Appendix l-B—A Timetable for the Commercial Production of Compounds • 281 
Table l•B-14.— Vitamins: Technical Information 
Compound 
Typical synthetic 
process 
Typical precursor 
Is precursor 
renewable/non- 
renewable 
limited 
Alternate 
precursor by 
fermentation 
Time to implement 
commercial fermentation by 
genetically engineered 
strain 
Nicotinic Acid . . 
chemical 
alkyl a-subst. 
nonrenewable 
glucose 
and NH/® 
lOyrs. 
Riboflavin (Bi). . . 
fermentation 
pyridines 
glucose 
renewable 
— 
lOyrs. 
Vitamin Bu 
fermentation 
carbohydrates 
renewable 
— 
lOyrs. 
Vitamin C 
semisynthetic 
glucose or 
sorbitol 
renewable 
— 
10 yrs. 
Vitamin D 
fermentation 
glucose 
renewable 
glucose 
10 yrs. 
Vitamin E 
extraction 
wheat germ oil 
limited 
glucose 
15 yrs. 
^Ammonium ion. 
SOURCE: Compiled by Gene* Corp. from data In references 4, 7. 8, 10, 11, and 12. 
Table l-B-15.— Enzymes: Market Information 
Current market data 
Compound 
Market 
volume 
1,0001b 
Bulk cost 
$/lb 
Market value 
($ millions) 
a-amylase 
600 
19.33 
11.6 
Amyloglucosidase 
600 
.00 
12.0 
Asparaginase .... 
(Information not available) 
Bacillus protease. 
1,000 
8.28 
8.2 
Ethanol 
dehydrogenase . 
(Information not available) 
Glucose isomerase 
100 
400 00 
40 0 
Glucose oxidase . 
5 
160.00 
0.80 
Hydrogenase .... 
(Information not available) 
Papain 
200 
59.00 
11.8 
Pepsin 
10 
380.00 
3.8 
Rennin 
24 
696.00 
40.0 
Tyrosine 
hydroxylase .... 
(Information not available) 
Urokinase 
60;900IUa 
89.5 
^lU = international units. 
SOURCE: Compiled by Gene* Corp. from data in references 9, 13, 14, 15, and 16. 
