extracts of flavour is required every year and is priced at a cost of 4000 Euro/year. It
is estimated that bio-vanillin (vanilla flavour from biotechnological sources) will
have a demand of 5000 tons/year and an average price of 800–1000 Euro/year. The
firm ‘Evolva’ is commercially involved in the production of vanillin which produces
a glycoside precursor to the vanillin molecule using a yeast that metabolizes glucose
(Singh and Winters 2016). The biotechnologically produced vanillin can be considered economically viable as the synthetic vanillin is priced around US$11/kg, the
natural vanilla flavour extracted from fermented pods of Vanilla orchids costs
US$1200–4000/kg (Bythrow 2005). EveValencene™, an orange flavour and fragrance ingredient of food items, beverages, personal care and household products, is
a fermentation product produced commercially by ‘Evolva’ (https://www.evolva.
com/orange-flavor-valencene). Another valuable flavour is raspberry ketone (parahydroxyphenyl-butan-2-one) which is present in very low concentrations in the
berries (0.1–2.0 ppm or 4 mg/kg of berries), its potential market is 6–10 million
Euros (Feron and Wache 2005). Although, the chemically synthesized ketone costs
only US$10/kg but the flavour industry and the consumers prefer natural substance.
Due to its high cost of extraction and inconspicuous presence (4 mg/kg) in berries,
the current market demand of natural raspberry ketone could not be completed;
biotechnological interventions are underway to rationalize its production. ‘Rose
aroma’ is another aroma which is also in high demand in the flavour and fragrance
industry, coded by 2-phenyl ethanol and 2-phenyl acetate. The chemically produced
2-phenylethanol has a market of 7000 tons/year, whereas the requirement of natural
product is 0.5–1 ton/year, is sold at US$1000/kg and is mainly produced by yeast
based bioprocess, since its isolation from the natural source is very costly (Schrader
2007).The natural peach aroma compound, gamma-decalactone was priced
US$6000/kg, while the synthetic counterpart has been priced at US$150/kg, now
the biotechnological aroma has reduced its price to US$300 kg/kg ( Dubal et al.
2008).
The global limonene market size is projected to grow from 45 kilo tons in 2015 to
65 kilo tons by 2023 (Global Market Insights 2017). The cost of limonene has also
increased in previous years, currently priced at around 20 $/kg (Ciriminna et al.
2014; Lange 2015). Natural lactones are also highly priced like the cost of
γ-decalactones was over US$10,000/kg in 1980. But due to the biotechnological
production, the prices reduced to US$300/kg (Schrader et al. 2004). Lactones were
traditionally produced by chemical synthesis from keto acids, although their
bio-production using fungal strains and biotechnological methods is now being
favoured. Biotechnological production of γ-decalactones (GDL) and
δ-decalactones (DDL) reached to US$1400/kg and US$6000/kg, respectively (Hui
2006).
‘Amyris’, a biotechnology and renewable products company, has collaborated
with ‘Firmenich’, another company involved in the production of flavour and
fragrance, to develop Clearwood. It is a mixture of the sesquiterpenes and alcohols
which are found in patchouli oil. A yeast has been genetically engineered to
metabolize sugar into the novel hydrocarbon chemical compounds which are
found in patchouli oil. The market price of ‘Clearwood’ is half the price of patchouli
7 Biotechnological Interventions for Production of Flavour and Fragrance. . .
157
is estimated that bio-vanillin (vanilla flavour from biotechnological sources) will
have a demand of 5000 tons/year and an average price of 800–1000 Euro/year. The
firm ‘Evolva’ is commercially involved in the production of vanillin which produces
a glycoside precursor to the vanillin molecule using a yeast that metabolizes glucose
(Singh and Winters 2016). The biotechnologically produced vanillin can be considered economically viable as the synthetic vanillin is priced around US$11/kg, the
natural vanilla flavour extracted from fermented pods of Vanilla orchids costs
US$1200–4000/kg (Bythrow 2005). EveValencene™, an orange flavour and fragrance ingredient of food items, beverages, personal care and household products, is
a fermentation product produced commercially by ‘Evolva’ (https://www.evolva.
com/orange-flavor-valencene). Another valuable flavour is raspberry ketone (parahydroxyphenyl-butan-2-one) which is present in very low concentrations in the
berries (0.1–2.0 ppm or 4 mg/kg of berries), its potential market is 6–10 million
Euros (Feron and Wache 2005). Although, the chemically synthesized ketone costs
only US$10/kg but the flavour industry and the consumers prefer natural substance.
Due to its high cost of extraction and inconspicuous presence (4 mg/kg) in berries,
the current market demand of natural raspberry ketone could not be completed;
biotechnological interventions are underway to rationalize its production. ‘Rose
aroma’ is another aroma which is also in high demand in the flavour and fragrance
industry, coded by 2-phenyl ethanol and 2-phenyl acetate. The chemically produced
2-phenylethanol has a market of 7000 tons/year, whereas the requirement of natural
product is 0.5–1 ton/year, is sold at US$1000/kg and is mainly produced by yeast
based bioprocess, since its isolation from the natural source is very costly (Schrader
2007).The natural peach aroma compound, gamma-decalactone was priced
US$6000/kg, while the synthetic counterpart has been priced at US$150/kg, now
the biotechnological aroma has reduced its price to US$300 kg/kg ( Dubal et al.
2008).
The global limonene market size is projected to grow from 45 kilo tons in 2015 to
65 kilo tons by 2023 (Global Market Insights 2017). The cost of limonene has also
increased in previous years, currently priced at around 20 $/kg (Ciriminna et al.
2014; Lange 2015). Natural lactones are also highly priced like the cost of
γ-decalactones was over US$10,000/kg in 1980. But due to the biotechnological
production, the prices reduced to US$300/kg (Schrader et al. 2004). Lactones were
traditionally produced by chemical synthesis from keto acids, although their
bio-production using fungal strains and biotechnological methods is now being
favoured. Biotechnological production of γ-decalactones (GDL) and
δ-decalactones (DDL) reached to US$1400/kg and US$6000/kg, respectively (Hui
2006).
‘Amyris’, a biotechnology and renewable products company, has collaborated
with ‘Firmenich’, another company involved in the production of flavour and
fragrance, to develop Clearwood. It is a mixture of the sesquiterpenes and alcohols
which are found in patchouli oil. A yeast has been genetically engineered to
metabolize sugar into the novel hydrocarbon chemical compounds which are
found in patchouli oil. The market price of ‘Clearwood’ is half the price of patchouli
7 Biotechnological Interventions for Production of Flavour and Fragrance. . .
157