With a combination of flow and electrochemistry, you can synthesise the amino acid alanine in a greener way than by fermentation, a team from Twente writes in ChemPlusChem.

Amino acids are not just the main components of the proteins and enzymes in your body, they can also be used in food supplements, pharmaceuticals and many other applications. The current method of producing amino acids is via organic synthesis or microbial fermentation, which are high-energy and at times complex processes that require harmful chemicals. Christos Englezos, Akash Raman, Arturo Susarrey, and colleagues from the University of Twente studied an alternative that uses an electrochemical flow reactor to synthesise alanine in a greener way.