Page 40 - European Energy Innovation - Spring 2017 publication
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40 Spring 2017 European Energy Innovation
COMMUNICATION
Development of Second
Generation Biorefineries
Production of Dicarboxylic Acids and Bio-based Polymers Derived Thereof (The BioREFINE-2G Project)
THE BIOREFINE-2G PROJECT tools and adaptive evolution, these challenges can be
The project BioREFINE-2G aims at developing commercially overcome and strains with the desired traits can be obtained.
attractive processes for efficient conversion of pentose-rich
side-streams from biorefineries into dicarboxylic acids, which PROCESS DEVELOPMENT
can be used as precursors for bio-based polymers including The challenges in the process development include firstly,
biodegradable polymers. designing the fermentation of a complex raw material, and
secondly, purifying the desired carboxylic acids from the
STRAIN ENGINEERING fermented broth to a required degree of purity for polymer
Microorganisms are among the most powerful resources on applications.
earth, but their potential has not yet been fully exploited.
BioREFINE-2G aims at engineering the well-known baker’s FERMENTATION OF A COMPLEX MEDIUM
yeast to produce industrially relevant dicarboxylic acids. In BioREFINE-2G works with raw materials containing several
order to develop a sustainable process, the goal is to use sugars - including a large fraction of pentose sugars – as well
industrial wood waste as substrate. as several other compounds, which may affect the physiology
of the host. The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a well
Wild-type yeast can neither produce dicarboxylic acids, suited host to function in these environments.
nor utilize C5 sugars, which are the major fermentable
components of the waste streams. Furthermore, the inhibitors To enable efficient fermentation, the process conditions are
usually present in the complex biomass hydrolysates can tuned to reach a suitable compromise between needed
significantly affect cell growth and performance. fermentation time, product yields and titers. This is done in
close collaboration with the strain development efforts by the
With the aid of advanced genetic engineering, modelling molecular biologists.
Strain engineering scheme (DTU) DOWNSTREAM PROCESSING
The development of a downstream
processing method for the recovery
of bio-based dicarboxylic acids
faced many challenges to reach
the purity standards suitable for
polymerization. A multi-stage
approach was developed to
overcome the issues posed by
the high amount of lignocellulosic
impurities in the fermentation broth
and by the fermentation by-products.
Recovered solids from complete
process experiments showed that
purity specifications were achieved in
high product yield. The optimization
efforts in recycling and re-use of
streams reduced the economic and
environmental impact of the process.
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