chemurgy

chemurgy (kĕm`ərjē), branch of applied chemistry concerned with preparing industrial products from agricultural raw materials. Among such products are plastics manufactured from casein and soybean; soaps derived from animal and vegetable fats; cellulose fiber products made from, for example, straws, stubble, cobs, and hulls; and starches derived from surplus grains. Chemurgy is a wide-ranging discipline involving chemistry, genetics, bacteriology, and physics.