Biochemical Industries

Organic chemistry and biochemistry have made vast strides in recent years and the progress made in these branches of chemistry has considerably extended the range of the chemical industry and increased the variety of commercial chemical products that can be derived from plants and animals. Within the bodies of living organisms many interesting chemical processes occur and today a number of biosynthetic processes are exploited commercially. ‘Biological industries’ is a convenient term to cover the industries that take advantage of these processes. Into this category fall the fermentation industries, the scope of which has extended tremendously in the last century, the manufacture of vitamins and hormones from plant and animal tissues and the chemurgic industries, which are continually adding to the variety of commercial chemicals produced from vital organic compounds.