Hardly any other term in the ?eld of biotechnologyhas been the subject of so muchdiscussionamongexpertsaswhitebiotechnologyatpresent.Thistermis an alias for "industrial biotechnology," an already established "heavyweight" that focuses on the production of the most diverse products (bulk and ?ne chemicals, enzymes, food and animal feed additives, pharmaceutically active substances and agrochemicals,auxiliary agents for processindustries, etc.). Insomesegments,whitebiotechnologyhasalreadycapturedleadingmarket positions: - In recent years the annual biotechnological production of amino acids exceeded one million tons. - Invitaminproductiontherehavebeen several recent casesofachangeover from a chemical to a biotechnological synthesis process, a trend that is expected to increase. - During the last 10 years the market volume for enzymes has increased by 50%. - The successful launch of polylactide marked white biotechnology's bre- throughinto the ?eld ofpolymers and synthetics. Today crude oil is the most important energy source and the most widely used chemical raw material. Both primary industry and polymer chemistry currently depend to a great extent on oil.
However, it is only a matter of time beforetheworld'soilreservesaredepleted.Almostallstudiespresentedtodate agreethatpeakoil,i.e.thepointintimewhenoilextractionreachesitshighest level, will take place in the ?rst half of the present century. The increasingly dif?cultdevelopmentofnewsourcesofoilhavetriggeredinitiativesworldwide to reduce national dependence on oil imports.