Window to China
The new patented process is based on pervaporation in a two-stage fermentation with a special mixing protocol Chengdu Institute of Biology press release, Oct. 31, 2012
Major industrial players are ENN Co., which operates a microalgae demonstration plant in Inner Mongolia, and SINOPEC. In the public domain, expertise is at Jinan University, Aquatic Biology Research Center (Prof. ZHANG Chengwu) and at CAS QIBEBT in Qingdao (Prof. LIU Tianzhong). At present, microalgae production is low (1.000 to 1.500 t of Chlorella, 4.500 t of Spirulina), and technology is developed both in open pond and in photobioreactor systems. The main drawback is cost and the difficulty to select the “best” strain for breeding China Bioindustry Network, Oct. 31, 2012
By x-ray-structure-based protein design, the group of Zhongliu WU enhanced activity and enantioselectivity of a SMO screened from a proprietary Pseudomonas sp. LQ26 H Lin et al., doi: 10.1016/j.jbiotec.2012.06.028
This was an increase of 23 % as compared to 2010. Public spending was 490 billion RMB or about 56 %. Science Daily, Oct. 26, 2012
In 2011, China’s primary energy production amounted to 3.18 billion tons of standard coal, ranked first in the world. The paper provides the following figures: by 2015, China’s non fossil energy will reach 11.4% of primary energy consumption, and the ratio of energy consumption to GDP will be 16% less than in 2010; the carbon dioxide emissions related to GDP will be 17% less than in 2010. By 2020, non-fossil energy in primary energy consumption ratio will reach 15%, carbon dioxide emissions per unit of domestic gross product will drop to 40%. China State Council Information Office, White Paper on Energy Policy, Oct. 2012
The province aims at establishing a coastal blue economic growth pole” at this center” China Industrial Biotechnology Network, Oct. 25, 2012
A team around Prof. Bin HAN investigated 446 geographically diverse variations of Oryzae rufipogon, a wild rice form, and 1.083 varieties of O. indica and japonica, to construct a comprehensive map of rice genome variation. Domestication-associated traits were analyzed through high-resolution genetic mapping Nature online. Oct. 4, 2012
Catalyst is [CoIII(salen)] encapsulated in silica-based nanoreactors Bo LI et al., Angew. Chem. 2012, DOI: 10.1002 / anie. 201203774)
The team around Guanglei CUI emphasizes independent IP and the high security flame retardant properties of the product. Production is at the pilot scale. China Industrial Biotechnology Network, Oct. 24, 2012
China’s biological industry will aim at 32 key areas and 139 key products. By 2015, China will strive to make strategic emerging industry’s proportion of GDP increase to 8%, by 2020, to reach 15%. In 2011, China’s biological industry output reached nearly 2 trillion yuan; in 2012, 25% growth is expected. China Industrial Biotechnology Network, Oct. 24, 2012