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

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品需求提供可持续的碳中性原材料。目前的技术不能有效地分离纤维素、半纤维素和木质素（木材以及纤维素生物质的主要成分）。 纤维素可以用来造纸，木质素可以燃烧以提供动力，半纤维素可以通过发酵来生产生物燃料和平台化学品。 木质素和半纤维素之间的醚键断裂是木材分级的主要困难。 研究目标包括：通过与对木聚糖有活性的已知酶进行比较来证明新奇，设计新微生物和酶的中试规模生产工艺，通过酶谱法确定酶的多肽结构，以及通过蛋白质微测序进行鉴定。 预期成果如下：该项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是开发一种新的、环境友好的纸浆产品生产方法，并创造新的生物燃料和平台化学品原料。 在纸浆米尔斯厂，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。 半纤维素可以被添加回纸浆中以提高产量，或者通过现有的发酵技术转化为建筑砌块化学品和生物燃料。 此外，纸浆中Tethys酶的存在将使木质素松散，从而允许与当前技术状态相比使用更少的能量和化学品进行更好的脱木质素。如果成功，该研究的重要成果将是（i）木材，一种可再生资源，将更有效地用于满足美国能源和平台化学品需求的重要部分;（ii）纸浆和造纸米尔斯厂和纤维素生物精炼厂使用的能源和工业化学品将减少，由此产生的废水将得到改善;（iii）美国的米尔斯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增加而获得经济增长。

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.