324 Green Chemistry, 2nd ed
- What is the first, most important consideration in developing a fermentation process
for production of a chemical? - What is the significance of temperature in fermentation processes? What happens if
temperature is too high? - Which chemical is made in largest quantities by fermentation?
- In which fundamental respect are plants more efficient producers of material than
fermentation? - Which relatively recent advance in biotechnology has greatly increased the scope of
materials potentially produced by plants? - Why are hybrid poplar trees particularly important in the production of raw
materials? - Describe the structural characteristics of glucose and other carbohydrates that make
them good platforms for chemical synthesis. - Give a disadvantage and an advantage of the use of cellulose as a source of
glucose. - List some of the hazards associated with the chemical synthesis of adipic acid used
to make nylon. - Give a major concern with the use of benzene as a feedstock.
- What is a chemical characteristic of 3-dehydroshikimic acid that could lead to much
greater uses for it? - Although the chemical formula of glucose is C 6 H 12 O 6 , that of the cellulose polymer
made from glucose is (C 6 H 10 O 5 )n where n is a large number. Since cellulose is made
from glucose, why is the cellulose formula not (C 6 H 12 O 6 )n? - Why is wood pulp consisting mostly of cellulose, treated with oxidants? Which
oxidants are preferred, and which has lost favor? - Give some examples of useful chemically modified cellulose. Which of these has
proven to be rather dangerous? - In ruminant animals that have bacteria in their stomachs that digest cellulose, the
rumen bacteria and the organic acids they generate are passed on through the digestive
tract where the bacterial biomass is dissolved, with the products and the organic acids
previously generated absorbed by the animal as food. Suggest why basic limestone
is used in the large batch processes that use rumen bacteria in digesters to produce
organic acids from cellulose. - Why is it difficult to deal with lignin as a chemical feedstock?