SBIR Phase I: Feasibility of Manufacture of an Enzyme for Delignification of Pulp and Biomass to Improve Sugar Yield

SBIR 第一阶段：制造用于纸浆和生物质脱木素以提高糖产量的酶的可行性

• 批准号: 1315023
• 负责人: Nancy Kravit
• 金额: $ 15万
• 依托单位: Tethys Research LLC
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2013-07-01 至 2014-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1315023&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SBIR; Phase; Feasibility; Manufacture; Enzyme

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project helps unlock the potential of forests to provide sustainable, carbon-neutral raw material for much of the nation's energy and chemical needs. Current technology cannot efficiently separate cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin (the major components of wood as well as cellulosic biomass). Cellulose can be used to make paper, lignin can be burned to provide power, and hemicellulose can be used via fermentation to produce biofuels and platform chemicals. The major difficulty in fractionating wood is breaking ether bonds between lignin and hemicellulose. Research Objectives include: demonstration of novelty by comparison to known enzymes that are active against xylan, design of a pilot scale manufacturing process for the new microorganism and enzyme, determination of the enzyme's polypeptide structure through zymography, and identification via protein microsequencing. Anticipated results are: an enzyme that is available in pilot scale quantities for testing and the data necessary to create a recombinant enzyme suitable for manufacture on an industrial scale.The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is to develop a novel, environmentally friendly production method for pulp products and to create new feedstocks for biofuels and platform chemicals. In pulp mills, Tethys's enzyme will allow previously wasted hemicellulose and hemicellulose-derived sugar to be recovered. Hemicellulose can be added back to pulp to increase yield or be converted, via existing fermentation technology, into building block chemicals and biofuels. Additionally, the presence of Tethys's enzyme in the pulp will loosen lignin, allowing better delignification with the use of less energy and chemicals compared to the current state of the art. Important outcomes of this research if successful, will be (i) wood, a renewable resource, will be more effectively used to meet a significant portion of America's energy and platform chemical needs; (ii) energy and industrial chemicals used in pulp and paper mills and cellulosic biorefineries will be reduced, and the resulting effluents improved; and (iii) America's mills and cellulosic biorefineries (and the rural towns where they are located) will receive an economic boost from reduced costs and increased revenues from higher yields.

这个小企业创新研究第一阶段项目有助于释放森林的潜力，为国家的大部分能源和化学需求提供可持续的、碳中和的原材料。目前的技术不能有效地分离纤维素、半纤维素和木质素（木材和纤维素生物质的主要成分）。纤维素可以用来造纸，木质素可以燃烧来提供电力，半纤维素可以通过发酵来生产生物燃料和平台化学品。分馏木材的主要困难是打破木质素和半纤维素之间的醚键。研究目标包括：通过与已知的对木聚糖有活性的酶进行比较来证明新颖性，设计中试规模的新微生物和酶的生产工艺，通过酶谱法确定酶的多肽结构，并通过蛋白质微测序进行鉴定。预期的结果是：一种酶可用于中试规模的测试，以及创建适合工业规模生产的重组酶所需的数据。该项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力是为纸浆产品开发一种新颖、环保的生产方法，并为生物燃料和平台化学品创造新的原料。在纸浆厂，特提斯的酶将允许以前浪费的半纤维素和半纤维素衍生的糖被回收。半纤维素可以重新添加到纸浆中以提高产量，或者通过现有的发酵技术转化为基本化学品和生物燃料。此外，纸浆中存在的特提斯酶会使木质素松动，与目前的技术相比，使用更少的能量和化学物质，可以更好地进行脱木质素。如果这项研究取得成功，其重要成果将是：(1)木材这种可再生资源将更有效地用于满足美国很大一部分能源和平台化学品的需求；（ii）减少纸浆和造纸厂以及纤维素生物精炼厂使用的能源和工业化学品，并改善由此产生的废水；（三）美国的工厂和纤维素生物精炼厂（以及它们所在的农村城镇）将因成本降低和产量提高而增加收入，从而获得经济提振。