Biomanufacturing broadly refers to industrial processes using biological systems (microorganisms, animal cells, plant cells) to produce commercially valuable substances. Fermentation engineering is the most important branch, using microorganisms (E. coli, S. cerevisiae, Bacillus subtilis) or mammalian cells (CHO cells) as “living factories,” achieving efficient target substance production through precise fermentation condition control.
## Product Spectrum
**Biopharmaceuticals (highest value density)**: recombinant protein drugs — insulin (the world’s first genetically engineered drug, 1982), human growth hormone, erythropoietin (EPO); monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) — produced in CHO cells, the current largest biopharma category (Humira is the highest-grossing drug in history); vaccines — hepatitis B vaccine (yeast recombinant), HPV vaccine (HPV capsid proteins produced in yeast/baculovirus).
**Bio-based chemicals**: amino acids (glutamate, lysine, tryptophan) — corn starch hydrolysis → fermentation, hundreds of millions of tons/year globally; organic acids (citric acid, lactic acid, succinic acid) — from beverage/food additives to biodegradable plastic feedstocks; bio-based nylon PA56 (Cathay Industrial) — microbial fermentation-produced pentanediamine replacing petroleum-derived source, now at large-scale industrial production.
**Food and food ingredients**: vitamin B12, B2, C via microbial fermentation; natural pigments (β-carotene); ginsenosides, ergothioneine, and other functional health ingredients.
## China’s Fermentation Industry Strength
China is the world’s largest fermentation product producer, with 60–70%+ global market share in bulk fermentation products (amino acids, citric acid, vitamins). China has extensive large-scale fermentation capacity (thousand-to-ten-thousand-ton fermenters), providing a solid foundation for industrializing next-generation synthetic biology products.
See [Synthetic Biology Overview](https://sunqi.org/synthetic-biology-overview-en/) and [Cathay Industrial official site](https://www.cathayindustrial.com/).
