Solvent-free mechanochemical and enzymatic breakdown of cellulose

拟议的研究正在开发一种新的，正在申请专利的方法，用于将纤维素和木质纤维素材料直接转化为葡萄糖或简单的寡糖，而不使用任何溶剂，添加剂，酸或碱。该工艺基于前所未有的发现，即纤维素酶可以在不添加任何溶剂或试剂的情况下，通过短暂的机械活化实现固态纤维素的水解切割。在最近提交的临时专利申请“多糖的酶促水解”（US 62/465，443）中描述的该方法不仅在酶催化的背景下开辟了一个全新的领域，而且还开辟了一条意想不到的、清洁的途径来分解高度水解的生物聚合物。通过前所未有地使用固态酶催化，该方法避免了纤维素溶解度差的限制，这是传统溶剂基技术将纤维素转化为可用作生物燃料或石油化学品替代品的较小分子的绊脚石。本文开发的技术可以导致从生物质产生生物燃料和商品化学品的重大进展，从而加速逐步淘汰对环境具有挑战性的化石燃料和石化产品。为了扩大这一正在申请专利的工艺的商业和工业潜力，拟议的研究旨在将纤维素转化优化到定量水平，然后扩展到真实的生物质样品并扩展到千克规模。这些发展应该使这种新颖和令人兴奋的过程对建立工业合作伙伴和随后的商业化具有高度吸引力。

The proposed research is developing a novel, patent-pending process for the direct transformation of cellulose and lignocellulosic materials directly into glucose or simple oligosaccharides without using any solvents, additives, acids or bases. This process is based on unprecedented discovery that cellulose enzymes can achieve hydrolytic cleavage of cellulose in the solid state, without any solvent or reagents added, through brief mechanical activation. This process, delineated in the recently filed provisional patent application "Enzymatic Saccharification of a Polysaccharide" (US 62/465,443) opens not only a completely new area in context of enzymatic catalysis, but also an unexpected, clean route for breakdown of highly recalcitrant biopolymers. By unprecedented use of enzyme catalysis in the solid state, this process avoids the limitations of poor solubility of cellulose, a stumbling block in conventional solvent-based technologies for converting cellulose into smaller molecules useful as biofuels or replacements of petrochemicals. The herein developed technology can lead to major advances in generating biofuels and commodity chemicals from biomass, thus accelerating the phasing out of environmentally-challenging fossil fuels and petrochemicals. In order to augment the commercial and industrial potential of this patent-pending process, the proposed research is aimed towards optimizing cellulose conversion to quantitative level, followed by expansion to real biomass samples and scaling to kilogram scale. These developments should make this novel and exciting process highly attractive for establishing industrial partners and subsequent commercialization.