In today’s world, as technology advances, it is crucial to meet everyone’s needs and wants without harming our environment. To fulfill them, Bio-based chemicals and enzymes are a promising pathway towards a more sustainable and efficient future. They play a crucial role in offering eco-friendly and environment friendly options for minimizing and utilizing waste and by products formed from bio based industries and plants.
Bio-based enzymes act as catalysts in many biochemical reactions and are derived from microorganisms and plants. Such enzymes are highly specific and biodegradeable. In biofuel production, cellulase and hemicellulases decompose lignocellulosic biomass into simple sugars that get fermented to produce bioethanol. Similarly, Lipases catalyse the transformation of fats and oils into fatty acid methyl esters which are essential components of biodiesel. Bio based enzymes have been a gamechanger in the detergent manufacturing plants by replacing the traditional detergents which required high temperature and other harsh chemicals to remove stains effectively. Proteins, carbohydrates, and fats can be broken down at lower temperatures by enzymes like proteases, amylase and lipases which uses less energy in laundry. In the pharmaceutical industry bio-based enzymes play a key role in delivering efficient alternatives to existing techniques. Pharma companies use enzymes such as lipases and esterases , which offer more targeted and environmentally friendly outputs than conventional chemical synthesis techniques. These enzymes aid in the production of medications with reduced side effects and greater purity. Lipases and esterases are employed in stereoselective synthesis, which aids in the creation of medications with the proper enantiomeric purity. Lipases are necessary for the synthesis of several cardiovascular drugs and statins which lower cholesterol, and other anti-inflammatory drugs. Additionally, enzymes are becoming more and more significant in cutting-edge therapeutic approaches like gene and cell therapy. Endonucleases, associated with CRISPR (e.g: Cas9), are used in gene editing to precisely cut DNA at specific sites, allowing genetic defects to be corrected. This opens up new advanced treatment options for diseases such as cancer and genetic disorders.
Bio-based Chemicals are a form of green chemistry, with the specific characteristic that it uses a raw material that is necessarily derived from biomass that is plants, animals or microoragnisms and is therefore renewable instead of fossil resources which are finite such as oil, coal or natural gas. Platform chemicals such as Lactic acid which is a precursor to Polylactic acid (PLA) a biodegradable plastic, is produced during the fermentation of carbohydrates. Lactic acid is also utilised in cosmetics for skin care products and acts as a preservative in the food industry. Bio plastics such as Polylactic acid(PLA) and Polyhydroxyalkanoates(PHA) are made from fermented plant starch and bacterial fermentation of sugars and lipids, is widely used in packaging, disposable cutlery, and medical implants due to its biodegradability and low environmental impact. In the cosmetics industry, Squalane which was traditionally sourced from shark liver oil, is now commonly produced from bio-based sources like olives and sugarcane. It is a lightweight, non-greasy moisturizer that imitates the skin’s natural oils.
Developments in Biotechnology, Synthetic biology, and process engineering are driving innovation and this opens new gates for the future of bio-based chemicals and enzymes. The use of bio-based chemicals is going to rise across industries as a result of improved and more affordable production techniques as well as rising consumer demand for environmental friendly goods.

Abhipsha Priyadarsani

University/College name : KIIT School of Biotechnology