This book reviews the assessment of industrial biotechnology products and processes from a sustainable perspective. Industrial Biotechnology is a comparably young field which comes along with high expectations with regard to sustainability issues. These stem from the promise of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and replacing fossil resources in the near or later future and using green technology, i.e. more environmentally friendly technologies. The intended economic, ecological and social benefits, however, need to be proven, resulting in a variety of challenges, both from a methodological and application point of view.

In this book, specific assessment and application topics of industrial biotechnology are addressed, highlighting challenges and solutions for both developers and users of assessment methods. In twelve chapters, experts in their particular fields define the scope, characterize industrial biotechnology and show in their contributions the state of the art, challenges and prospects of assessing industrial biotechnology products and processes.

The chapter 'Societal and Ethical Aspects of Industrial Biotechnology' of this book is available open access under a CC BY 4.0 license at link.springer.com

Part I: Introduction

The Sustainability and Life Cycle Assessments of Industrial Biotechnology: An Introduction
Part II: Background
History, Current State, and Emerging Applications of Industrial Biotechnology
Economic Aspects of Industrial Biotechnology
Part III: Industrial Biotechnology from an Assessment Perspective.-  Environmental Aspects of Industrial Biotechnology
Societal and Ethical Aspects of Industrial Biotechnology
Sustainability and Life Cycle Assessments in Industrial Biotechnology: A Review of Current Approaches and Future Needs.-  Social Life Cycle Assessment for Industrial Biotechnology
Part IV: Specific Methods and Applications
Assessing Land Use and Biodiversity Impacts of Industrial Biotechnology
Risk Assessment of Processes and Products in Industrial Biotechnology
Green Chemistry and its Contributions to Industrial Biotechnology.-  Application of geobiotechnology in mining, mineral processing and metal recycling
Assessing Industrial Biotechnology Products with LCA and Eco-Efficiency.