Production of D-lactate in Geobacillus spp App No 50484-338192

生物塑料，作为碳氢化合物塑料的替代品，是一个快速扩张的市场，预计将从2012年的140万吨增长到2017年的600多万吨（来源：欧洲生物塑料）。在这个市场中，聚乳酸（PLA）是包装、食品餐具和纺织品中现有产品的替代材料，同时也为高价值市场开发了新产品，在这些市场中，通过将乳酸的D和L异构体按不同比例混合，可以实现PLA性能的期望变化。目前的乳酸生产主要是来自第一代原料的更常见的L异构体，它与粮食作物竞争农业用地，产生的废物需要在处理前进行处理。D异构体主要由L异构体通过化学和生物相结合的过程产生。该提案旨在开发一种全生物工艺，为生产D乳酸创造一种创新和高效的制造路线，减少对化石石油的依赖，从而实现PLA生产工业过程的脱碳。此次合作将Rebio技术有限公司、巴斯大学和过程创新中心（CPI）聚集在一起。Rebio在开发基于地杆菌宿主的工业菌株方面拥有专业知识，用于从甘蔗甘蔗渣，玉米秸秆和城市固体废物中提取的馏分等多种原料生产第二代生物乙醇。这与不同生物聚合物的发展及其潜在市场的知识相结合，使他们能够将一个成功的项目推向生产。巴斯大学在多种生物的基因工程方面拥有相当多的专业知识，但特别是在地杆菌方面有一定的背景，并将进行必要的菌株工程，将l -乳酸转化为d -乳酸生产菌株。CPI带来了乳酸下游加工和工艺放大领域的知识，并将能够从放大实验产生的数据中评估市场潜力。

Bioplastic, as a replacement for hydrocarbon plastic, is a rapidly expanding market that is predicted to grow from 1.4M Tonnes in 2012 to over 6M Tonnes by 2017 (Source: European Bioplastics). Within this market, Polylactic Acid (PLA) is an alternative material for existing products in packaging, food serviceware and textiles together with enabling new products to be developed for high value markets where desired variations in the properties of the PLA can be achieved by mixing of D and L isomers of lactic acid in different proportions. Current lactic acid production is mainly in the more common L isomer from 1st generation feedstocks, which compete with food crops for agricultural land and produce waste that requires processing prior to disposal. The D isomer is mainly produced from the L isomer through a combination of chemical and biological processes. This proposal seeks to develop a fully biological process to create an innovative and efficient manufacturing route for producing D lactic acid that reduces the dependency on fossil oil, leading to the de-carbonisation of the industrial process for the production of PLA. The collaboration brings together Rebio Technologies Ltd, the University of Bath and the Centre for Process Innovation (CPI). Rebio have expertise in the development of industrial strains based on a Geobacillus host for the production of 2nd generation bioethanol from a wide range of feedstocks such as cane bagasse, corn stover and fractions derived from municipal solid waste. This is combined with knowledge of the development of different biopolymers and their potential markets, and they are in a position to take a successful project forward into production. The University of Bath have considerable expertise in the genetic engineering of a wide range of organisms but specifically have a background in Geobacillus and will carry out the necessary strain engineering to convert an L-lactate to a D-lactate producing strain. CPI brings knowledge of the downstream processing of lactic acid and in the area of process scale up and will be able to evaluate market potential from data arising from from scale-up experiments .