CSIRO & GRDC JV for producing new chemicals from grain crops
18 Jun '05
3 min read
Compounds produced by plants are already used by industry to make some products such as biodegradable plastics, paints and polyurethane panels for machinery – but there are many more opportunities.
Estimates suggest that the world-wide value of new industrial biotech applications in the chemical industry alone could reach $160 billion by 2010.
CSIRO's Dr John Oakeshott says the Initiative will build on CSIRO's past success identifying novel enzymes and compounds from biological sources like plants and insects to determine if they have useful properties for industrial applications.
“We are searching for new compounds with valuable properties, like biodegradability, that are not known to the industry - that can be produced by plants,” Dr Oakeshott says.
The anticipated length of the entire Initiative is 12 years – in the first phase CSIRO and GRDC will explore a range of potential options to determine which might be the most promising, and will then seek to demonstrate 'proof of concept' in plants.
Dr Alan Gould, Director Verdant Partners and Chair of the CSIRO/GRDC Crop Biofactories International Advisory Panel, is available also for interview on Friday 17 June.
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Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation
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