Project Number: 5325-41000-049-00
Project Type: Appropriated

Start Date: Nov 16, 2009
End Date: Nov 15, 2014

Objective:
Objective 1: Develop enzyme-based technologies (based on cleaving specific covalent crosslinks which underlie plant cell wall recalcitrance) thereby enabling new commercially-viable* saccharification processes. Objective 2: Develop new enzyme-based technologies that enable the production of commercially-viable* coproducts such as specialty chemicals, polymer precursors, and nutritional additives/supplements from raw or pretreated lignocellulosic biomass. Objective 3: Develop pretreatment technologies that enable commercially-viable* biorefineries capable of utilizing diverse feedstocks such as rice straw, wheat straw, commingled wastes (including MSW), sorghum, switchgrass, algae, and food processing by-products. Objective 4: Develop new separation technologies that enable commercially-viable* and energy-efficient processes for the recovery of biofuels, biorefinery co-products, and/or bioproducts from dilute fermentation broths.

Approach:
Novel enzymes for pretreatment of lignocellulosic feedstocks will be developed and improved by (1) creation of new genomic DNA libraries from diverse environments that are known to contain microbes that digest plant biomass, (2) development of novel rapid screening assays for identifying enzymes that have a specific activity, and (3) optimization of different enzyme cocktails for different biomass sources via multivariant, combinatorial optimization protocols. Greener routes toward production of styrene, terephthalic acid, vanillin and ferulic acid derivatives will be developed by a combination of biochemical and chemical synthetic pathways. Enzymes will be applied to created these bioproduct feedstocks. Engineering process models, economic analysis, and process parameters for developing integrated biorefineries using biomass from MSW and other under-utilized biomass sources as feedstock will be developed to create a source of cellulose that is consistent, easily converted to bioenergy and available during all seasons. Develop novel separation methods to reduce energy use and costs for recovering and purifying biofuels/bioproducts from low concentration fermentation broths, especially those resulting from lignocellulosic feedstocks where product concentrations are typically below (sometimes far below) 6 wt%. Replacing 5325-41000-046-00D (11/09).