SBIR Phase I: Co-Production of Industrial Enzymes and Advanced Lipid Biofuels in Algae

这个小企业创新第一阶段项目将从藻类和脂质生物燃料中开发酶产品。藻类有潜力从高级脂质中提供碳中性、可再生的生物燃料。藻类最多能产生占其总生物量30% - 40%的高级脂质，剩下60% - 70%的生物量（主要是蛋白质）作为废物。随着用于生物燃料生产的藻类增长扩大到替代大量运输燃料所需的水平，处理这些废弃生物质的成本将变得令人望而却步。因此，确定和开发剩余生物质的大规模商业用途是实现大规模先进藻类脂质生物燃料生产的商业可行性所必需的。为了满足这一需求，蓝宝石能源公司将开发一个系统，共同生产商业上重要的工业酶和用于藻类生物燃料的高级脂质。蓝宝石能源公司（Sapphire Energy）的斯蒂芬·梅菲尔德（Stephen Mayfield）最近率先开发了在藻类中过度表达蛋白质的工具。第一阶段的实验检验了使用这些最近开发的工具在藻类中生产工业酶的可行性，其水平足以与现有的酶生产系统竞争，同时保持活性和纯度。这个项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是使藻类作为替代燃料更可行，同时也提供工业酶。销售工业酶的收入将抵消处理藻类生产脂质产生的多余蛋白质副产品的成本，从而降低先进脂质生物燃料的生产成本。这项技术的发展具有广泛的社会影响，因为它将减少可再生运输燃料商业化的关键障碍，1)可以直接替代目前汽车发动机中的石油基汽油，2)不与粮食作物竞争或使用粮食作物，3)利用废水和多余的二氧化碳。此外，这项工作将允许进一步开发用于操纵藻类的分子工具，增加生物体内可能产生的产品类型，这种生物对生产碳中性、可再生产品的重要性正在迅速增加。

This Small Business Innovation Phase I project will develop enzyme products from algae along with lipid biofuels. Algae have the potential to provide carbon-neutral, renewable biofuels from advanced lipids. At most, algae will be capable of producing advanced lipids as 30% - 40% of their total biomass, leaving 60% - 70% of the remaining biomass, primarily protein, as waste. As algae growth for biofuel production is scaled up to the levels required to replace significant amounts of transportation fuel, the costs for disposing of this waste biomass will become prohibitive. Therefore, identifying and developing large-scale commercial uses for the remaining biomass is required for commercial viability of large scale advanced lipid biofuel production from algae. In order to fulfill this need, Sapphire Energy will develop a system to co-produce commercially important industrial enzymes and advanced lipids for biofuels in algae. Stephen Mayfield of Sapphire Energy has pioneered the recent development of tools to overexpress proteins in algae. The Phase I experiments examine the feasibility of using these recently developed tools to produce industrial enzymes in algae at levels sufficient to be competitive with existing enzyme production systems while retaining activity and purity. The broader impacts/commercial potential of this project is to make algae more viable as an alternative fuel while also supplying industrial enzymes. Revenue from the sale of industrial enzymes will negate the costs of disposal of excess protein byproduct resulting from lipid production in algae, lowering production costs of advanced lipid biofuels. Development of this technology has wide-ranging societal impacts as it would reduce a key barrier to commercialization of a renewable transportation fuel that 1) can directly substitute for petroleum-based gasoline in current automobile engines, 2) does not compete with or use food crops, and 3) utilizes wastewater and excess CO2. Additionally, the work will allow further development of molecular tools for manipulating algae, increasing the types of products that may be produced in an organism that is rapidly gaining importance for the production of carbon-neutral, renewable products.