Cleaner Production opportunities and its benefits in Biotech Industry

Biotechnology is said to be used as tool for cleaner production. There has been much discussion regarding potential environmental benefits and hazards associated with biotechnology. Biotechnology is increasingly being viewed as a major weapon against environmental damage. Cleaner production is considered as a part of this strategy and yet there is still widespread ignorance about this emerging technology but there are many areas in biotech industry where application of cleaner production can be beneficial economically as well as environmentally. There are many sectors of biotechnology; each sector has different process and products. By analyzing process of each class of biotechnology, Cleaner production opportunities can be generated specifically. Major processes in this industry where cleaner production can be applied are heat transfer, mass transfer, mechanical operations, separation techniques, etc. cleaner production at smaller level may also leads to benefits in overall economy and waste minimization in process. Cleaner production aims at waste reduction, onsite recovery, product modification and energy conservation. Although there are several barriers to cleaner production but it can be overcome considering the benefits obtained from cleaner production.