ABSTRACT
Enzymes are energetically very efficient since few of them need to be synthesized, and they remain unmodified by the reaction. Most biochemical reactions are redox reactions: electron exchanges between reactants or hydrogen removal by enzymes. Biorefineries are facilities for fractioning and refining biomass to increase its value through conversion from several substrates to several products, preferably using all resource components. The most common substrates are still sugar, straw, wood, and starch for ethanol, lignin, and organic acids; plant and algae oil; cellulose and lignocellulose. This concept goes beyond the exhaustion of biomass into a range of products based on four principles: sustainability, cascading, non-conflict with food, and neutral carbon footprint. New applications with networks made of nucleic acids have been used to program, calculate, and store events such as molecular interactions and facilitate regulatory circuits; these have been combined with logic-gated nanorobots, solid-state nanochannels, or switchable nanovalves and artificial aptamer-lipid-receptors.
