Despite the ready availability of SO2 as a bulk feedstock, its use in transition-metal catalysis is severely limited.
Butanol, a four-carbon primary alcohol, is not only an important bulk chemical feedstock, but also a promising next-generation liquid fuel because of its superior characteristics over ethanol, such as higher energy content, less hygroscopicity, better blending ability, and an energy density closer to that of gasoline (Dürre 2007).
Agricultural residues constitute the bulk of potential feedstock available in the United States for cellulosic fuel production.
Indeed, reactions of amino acids, as illustrated earlier, can lead to the formation of a number of chemicals such as ɛ-caprolactam and styrene, which are prepared industrially on a "bulk" scale from petrochemical feedstocks.
Actinobacillus succinogenes naturally produces high concentrations of succinate, a potential intermediary feedstock for bulk chemical productions.
Development of sustainable biological process for the production of bulk chemicals from renewable feedstock is an important goal of white biotechnology.
Still, the world is standing at the threshold of an era marked by scarce fossil-based resources (Lambert et al. 2014; Foley et al. 2011), which called for a transition towards the production of bio-based bulk chemicals from renewable feedstock (European Parliament CotEU 2009).
Microalgae are a promising feedstock for bulk commodities like chemicals, food, feed and fuels.
However, the extension of biobased succinate as an intermediary feedstock for bulk chemicals production will still rely on inexpensive manufacturing processes.
High production costs hinder the current implementation of algal biomass as a feedstock for bulk commodities; production costs should decrease to less than 1 €/kg dry weight [ 1].
