SBIR Phase II: Microbial conversion of pectin-rich agricultural byproducts into specialty chemicals

SBIR 第二阶段：将富含果胶的农业副产品微生物转化为特种化学品

• 批准号: 1951249
• 负责人: Luke Latimer
• 金额: $ 74.94万
• 依托单位: ZestBio, Inc.
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-05-01 至 2024-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1951249&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SBIR; Phase; II; Microbial; conversion

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is enabling commercialization of novel technologies that convert pectin-rich agricultural byproducts into useful specialty chemicals for existing multi-billion dollar chemical markets. The United States is a leading producer of pectin-rich byproducts, including the citrus (5 million tons annually), apple (5 million tons annually) and sugar beet (37 million tons annually) industries. With this platform fermentation technology, it is possible to perform specific chemical conversion of these US byproducts into value-adding products. Implementation of this technology can increase overall revenue from crops far exceeding current byproduct mitigation strategies. This offers reduced volatility in crop value, financial sustainability for farmers, and construction of rural fermentation facilities. Furthermore, by using existing crop byproducts and eco-friendly fermentations, the resulting chemical products will be have lower environmental impact than competing chemicals made from petroleum or sugar. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is designed to improve the conversion of industrial pectin-rich agricultural byproducts into specialty chemical products. Each year, large volumes of agricultural byproducts, such as citrus peels and sugar beet pulp are produced, but lack value-adding technologies. By using novel scientific breakthroughs in microbial metabolism and tools for strain engineering, microbial organisms can be engineered to convert the sugars from these byproducts into useful chemicals through environmentally sustainable fermentation. The goal of this Phase II project is to improve the production rate for the synthesis of the first chemical product using this technology. The first objective is to improve the oxidative metabolism of the host organism to aid in strain productivity. The second objective is to use a combinatorial library of strains to refine and optimize the microorganisms' fermentation rate. The final objective is to take the improved strains and optimize the fermentation conditions using bioreactors. This three pronged-approach promises to improve chemical production rates.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

这项小企业创新研究（SBIR）第二阶段项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力是使将富含果胶的农业副产品转化为现有数十亿美元化学品市场有用的特种化学品的新技术商业化。美国是富含果胶的副产品的主要生产国，包括柑橘（每年500万吨）、苹果（每年500万吨）和甜菜（每年3700万吨）工业。利用这种平台发酵技术，可以将这些美国副产品进行特定的化学转化为增值产品。实施这一技术可以增加作物的总收入，远远超过目前的减少副产品战略。这减少了作物价值的波动，为农民提供了财政可持续性，并建设了农村发酵设施。此外，通过使用现有的农作物副产品和生态友好的发酵，所产生的化学产品将比从石油或糖中生产的竞争化学品对环境的影响更小。这个小型企业创新研究（SBIR）二期项目旨在提高将富含果胶的工业农业副产品转化为特种化工产品的能力。每年生产大量的农业副产品，如柑橘皮和甜菜浆，但缺乏增值技术。利用微生物代谢方面的新科学突破和菌株工程工具，微生物可以通过环境可持续的发酵将这些副产品中的糖转化为有用的化学物质。该二期项目的目标是提高使用该技术合成第一种化学产品的生产率。第一个目标是改善宿主生物的氧化代谢，以帮助菌株生产力。第二个目标是使用菌株组合库来优化微生物的发酵速率。最终目标是采用改良菌株，并利用生物反应器优化发酵条件。这三管齐下的方法有望提高化学品的生产率。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。