SBIR Phase II: Integration of carbohydrate and gaseous fermentations for maximum C3 and C4 chemical yield

这个小企业创新研究第二阶段项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是开发更便宜、更环保和更可持续的可再生和家用化学品生产和运输燃料技术。此外，化学公司一直在寻找通过减少碳足迹沿着制造成本来提高业务可持续性的方法。混合营养发酵可以是微生物发酵中的一个阶跃变化改进，用于生产许多中间体和商品化学品。来自原料的产率可以显著增加，并且从发酵产生的CO2气体作为废副产物可以被捕获并同化为有价值的化学品，这转化为任何适用的商品或中间体化学品生产过程的产率和生产率的显著提高。因此，这种创新技术方法的商业和环境影响是巨大的。此外，该项目还将大大提高对气体和碳水化合物发酵过程中微生物生理学和代谢的科学和技术理解。该第二阶段研究项目的目标是开发和扩大平台菌株，用于使用碳高效途径生产C3和C4化学品。正在开发的方法被称为厌氧非光合（ANP）兼养发酵，工艺进步将集中在生物反应器操作参数，培养基配方，并与产品分离的整合。到本项目结束时，该项目可能已经证明并验证了使用ANP兼养发酵在中试规模上提高C3和/或C4代谢物生产的质量产率。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project is to develop renewable and domestic chemical production and transportation fuel technologies that are cheaper, greener and more sustainable. Additionally, chemical companies are constantly looking for ways to improve business sustainability by reducing carbon footprints along with cost of manufacturing. Mixotrophic fermentation can be a step-change improvement in microbial fermentation for the production of numerous intermediate and commodity chemicals. Yields from feedstock can be increased substantially, and CO2 gas produced from the fermentation, as a waste byproduct can instead be captured and assimilated into valuable chemicals, which translates into a significant improvement in yield and productivity for any applicable commodity or intermediate chemical production process. Consequently, the commercial and environmental implications of this innovative technological approach are tremendous. Furthermore, this project could significantly enhance scientific and technological understanding of microbial physiology and metabolism during gas and carbohydrate fermentation.The objectives of this Phase II research project are to develop and scale-up platform strains for C3 and C4 chemical production using carbon efficient pathways. The approach being developed is referred to as Anaerobic Non-Photosynthetic (ANP) mixotrophic fermentation, and process advancements will focus on bioreactor operation parameters, media formulations, and integration with product separation. By the end of this project, the project will likely have demonstrated and validated enhanced mass yield of C3 and/or C4 metabolite production at pilot-scale using ANP mixotrophic fermentation.