BioMax: Oxidoreductases for hemicellulose upgrading to bio-derived cross-linkers

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Emerging bio-based economies are valued in the hundreds of billion dollars and are seen as an opportunity for creating new jobs for rural communities close to renewable bioresources. However, products generated from renewable bioresources are not necessarily greener, and sustainable bio-based economies require efficiency of bioresource conversion and application. The overall mission of the BioMax project is to create breakthrough biotechnologies that sustainably upgrade biomass residuals to high-value products, creating new economic opportunities for Canadian biorefineries. The specific goal is to establish carbohydrate oxidoreductases for the conversion of underused hemicelluloses to cross-linking molecules, relevant to sustainable textile manufacturing. Over the next two-years, the project team of computational scientists, biochemists, bioprocess engineers and material scientists will deliver: 1) 20 new enzyme designs predicted to display improved activity towards diverse hemicelluloses, 2) improved industrial hosts for cost-effective production of the targeted oxidoreductases, and 3) enzyme systems that efficiently transform underused hemicelluloses to molecules that cross-link cellulosic fibre.By establishing biotechnologies that upgrade hemicelluloses and advance sustainable textile manufacturing, this project supports three key aims of the project partner: 1) integrate new enzyme technologies into Canadian forest biorefineries, 2) maximize the efficient use of bioresources by valorising underused hemicelluloses that make up ~25% of biomass feedstocks, and 3) expand opportunities for dissolving pulp mills in sustainable textile manufacturing.