SBIR Phase I: Two-Stage Enzymatic Hydrolysis and Bioconversion of Pretreated Biomass for Production of Fuel Ethanol and Industrial Chemicals

这个小型企业创新研究项目是为了开发一种新的两阶段水解和发酵工艺，将纯化的纤维素转化为乙醇。这一过程将是一个更大的生物质精炼系统的一部分，在该系统中，木质纤维生物质将首先被分馏成半纤维素/木质素流和纯化的纤维素流。该项目的具体目标是确定同时糖化和发酵部分水解的纤维素为乙醇的最佳条件，并评估整个过程的经济性。该项目的商业应用是在生物质加工领域。第一阶段和后续第二阶段项目任务的成功完成预计将导致从生物质生产燃料乙醇和工业化学品在经济上是可行的。

This Small Business Innovation Research project is to develop a novel two-stage hydrolysis and fermentation process for conversion of purified cellulose to ethanol. The process would be part of a larger biomass refining system in which lignocellulosic biomass would first be fractionated into a hemicellulose / lignin stream and a purified cellulose stream. The specific objectives of this project are to identify optimal conditions for simultanous saccharification and fermentation of partially hydrolyzed cellulose to ethanol and to evaluate the economics of the overall process. The commercial application of this project is in the area of biomass processing. The successful completion of the tasks in Phase I and the follow on Phase II project is expected to lead to economically viable production of fuel ethanol and industrial chemicals from biomass.