SBIR Phase I: Co-Production of Industrial Enzymes and Advanced Lipid Biofuels in Algae

这个小企业创新第一阶段项目将开发从藻类和油脂生物燃料中提取的酶产品。藻类有可能从高级脂肪中提供碳中性、可再生的生物燃料。至多，藻类将能够产生高级脂肪，占其总生物量的30%-40%，剩下60%-70%的剩余生物量，主要是蛋白质，作为废物。随着用于生产生物燃料的藻类生长扩大到取代大量运输燃料所需的水平，处理这些废弃生物质的成本将变得令人望而却步。因此，确定和开发剩余生物质的大规模商业用途是利用藻类生产大规模高级脂肪生物燃料的商业可行性所必需的。为了满足这一需求，蓝宝石能源公司将开发一种系统，共同生产具有商业重要性的工业酶和高级油脂，用于藻类生物燃料。蓝宝石能源公司的斯蒂芬·梅菲尔德引领了在藻类中过度表达蛋白质的工具的最新发展。第一阶段实验检验了使用这些最近开发的工具在藻类中生产工业酶的可行性，其水平足以与现有的酶生产系统竞争，同时保持活性和纯度。该项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是使藻类作为替代燃料更具可行性，同时还提供工业酶。工业酵素的销售收入将抵消处理藻类油脂产生的多余蛋白质副产品的成本，从而降低先进油脂生物燃料的生产成本。这项技术的开发具有广泛的社会影响，因为它将减少可再生交通燃料商业化的一个关键障碍，这种燃料1)可以在当前的汽车发动机中直接替代基于石油的汽油，2)不与粮食作物竞争或使用，3)利用废水和过量的二氧化碳。此外，这项工作将允许进一步开发操纵藻类的分子工具，增加生物体中可能产生的产品类型，这种生物体正在迅速获得对生产碳中性可再生产品的重要性。

This Small Business Innovation Phase I project will develop enzyme products from algae along with lipid biofuels. Algae have the potential to provide carbon-neutral, renewable biofuels from advanced lipids. At most, algae will be capable of producing advanced lipids as 30% - 40% of their total biomass, leaving 60% - 70% of the remaining biomass, primarily protein, as waste. As algae growth for biofuel production is scaled up to the levels required to replace significant amounts of transportation fuel, the costs for disposing of this waste biomass will become prohibitive. Therefore, identifying and developing large-scale commercial uses for the remaining biomass is required for commercial viability of large scale advanced lipid biofuel production from algae. In order to fulfill this need, Sapphire Energy will develop a system to co-produce commercially important industrial enzymes and advanced lipids for biofuels in algae. Stephen Mayfield of Sapphire Energy has pioneered the recent development of tools to overexpress proteins in algae. The Phase I experiments examine the feasibility of using these recently developed tools to produce industrial enzymes in algae at levels sufficient to be competitive with existing enzyme production systems while retaining activity and purity. The broader impacts/commercial potential of this project is to make algae more viable as an alternative fuel while also supplying industrial enzymes. Revenue from the sale of industrial enzymes will negate the costs of disposal of excess protein byproduct resulting from lipid production in algae, lowering production costs of advanced lipid biofuels. Development of this technology has wide-ranging societal impacts as it would reduce a key barrier to commercialization of a renewable transportation fuel that 1) can directly substitute for petroleum-based gasoline in current automobile engines, 2) does not compete with or use food crops, and 3) utilizes wastewater and excess CO2. Additionally, the work will allow further development of molecular tools for manipulating algae, increasing the types of products that may be produced in an organism that is rapidly gaining importance for the production of carbon-neutral, renewable products.