The identification of the useful recoverable biomass in natural product production

Abstract

The title of this paper has been chosen as a In contribution to the present Conference because it seems to the author that one role of the biotechnologist is to make the industrialist and the general public aware of the re- current resources available to the community, as well as the more widely recognised role of studying and developing the unit processes between harvest and the consumer. other words, the biotechnologist must not only stand back from his study of unit processes to view, from time to time, the total process (the elements of which he is investigating); he must also think aloud occasionally in the hearing of the political world, so that the latter may incorporate these thoughts in long range planning. This exercise has come to be known as one of the features of the so-called Delphi method of planning. It possesses the inherent hazards of this kind of study. Many are sceptical of such exercises, but, nevertheless, they may be of value to the scientist and the politician by making each other aware of new possibilities, which might not have occurred to their respective disciplines operating in isolation. The term "biomass" may not be familiar to many of the participants as it has been employed mainly by ecologists. and fermentation technologists. Within these disciplines, it is clearly understood as the total weight of the organism on a given area of land or in a given volume of water.