Linking the process steps in the bioconversion of lignocellulosics to ethanol

在加拿大，木质纤维素原料如木材和农业残留物是一种可再生和容易获得的资源，可用于减少我们对化石燃料的依赖。生物转化技术是加拿大生物炼油厂可以采用的技术之一，该炼油厂能够将木质纤维素转化为燃料和化学品等生物产品。然而，为了在工业规模上实施木质纤维素的生物转化，需要进一步的工作来连接该方法的预处理、酶水解和发酵步骤。拟议研究的最终目标是将联合收割机诺维信1在构建酶制剂方面的专业知识与Saddler集团在生物质预处理方面的丰富经验相结合，以开发生物质预处理和酶混合物的组合，促进有效的水解和发酵，从而从木质纤维素原料中获得最大的乙醇产量。最初的工作将集中在玉米秸秆，因为这种原料已被证明是相对容易的加工，因此代表了一个逻辑的进展，以更难消化的原料，如软木残留物普遍在加拿大。从评估特定预处理对所得基质的化学和物理特性以及水解性的影响中获得的原理随后将应用于硬木如杂交白杨和软木如黑松。

In Canada, lignocellulosic feedstocks such as wood and agricultural residues are a renewable and readily available resource that can be utilized to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. Bioconversion is one of the technologies that can be integrated into a Canadian bio-refinery capable of transforming lignocellulosics into bioproducts such as fuel and chemicals. However, in order to implement the bioconversion of lignocellulosics at an industrial scale, further work is necessary to link the pretreatment, enzymatic hydrolysis and fermentation steps of the process. The ultimate goal of the proposed research is to combine Novozymes1 expertise in constructing enzyme formulations with the extensive experience in biomass pretreatment of the Saddler group to develop combinations of biomass pretreatments and enzyme mixtures that facilitate efficient hydrolysis and fermentation to obtain maximum ethanol yields from lignocellulosic feedstocks. The initial work will focus on corn stover, since this feedstock has been shown to be relatively easy to process, and thus represents a logical progression to more recalcitrant feedstocks such as softwood residues prevalent in Canada. The principles gained from evaluating the effects of specific pretreatments on the chemical and physical characteristics and hydrolyzability of resulting substrates will be subsequently applied to hardwoods such as hybrid poplar and softwoods such as lodgepole pine.