Production of D-lactate in Geobacillus spp App No 50484-338192

生物塑料作为碳氢化合物塑料的替代品，是一个迅速扩大的市场，预计到2017年将从2012年的140万吨增长到600多万吨(来源：欧洲生物塑料)。在这一市场中，聚乳酸是包装、食品服务器皿和纺织品现有产品的替代材料，并使新产品能够为高价值市场开发，在这些市场中，通过将乳酸的D和L异构体按不同比例混合，可以实现解放军所需的性能变化。目前乳酸的生产主要是来自第一代原料的更常见的L异构体，这些异构体与粮食作物争夺农田，产生需要处理前处理的废物。D异构体主要由L异构体通过化学和生物过程相结合的方式产生。这项提议旨在开发一种完全生物的工艺，以创建一条生产D乳酸的创新和高效的制造路线，减少对化石石油的依赖，从而导致生产聚乳酸的工业过程的去碳化。这项合作将ReBioTechnologies Ltd、巴斯大学和工艺创新中心(CPI)聚集在一起。REBIO在开发基于地杆菌宿主的工业菌株方面拥有专业知识，可从甘蔗渣、玉米秸秆和从城市固体废物中提取的馏分等多种原料中生产第二代生物乙醇。这与不同生物聚合物的发展及其潜在市场的知识相结合，他们能够将一个成功的项目推向生产。巴斯大学在多种生物的基因工程方面拥有相当多的专业知识，但特别是地质杆菌方面的背景，并将进行必要的菌株工程，将L乳酸转化为D-乳酸产生菌株。消费物价指数带来了乳酸下游加工和工艺放大领域的知识，并将能够根据放大实验产生的数据评估市场潜力。

Bioplastic, as a replacement for hydrocarbon plastic, is a rapidly expanding market that is predicted to grow from 1.4M Tonnes in 2012 to over 6M Tonnes by 2017 (Source: European Bioplastics). Within this market, Polylactic Acid (PLA) is an alternative material for existing products in packaging, food serviceware and textiles together with enabling new products to be developed for high value markets where desired variations in the properties of the PLA can be achieved by mixing of D and L isomers of lactic acid in different proportions. Current lactic acid production is mainly in the more common L isomer from 1st generation feedstocks, which compete with food crops for agricultural land and produce waste that requires processing prior to disposal. The D isomer is mainly produced from the L isomer through a combination of chemical and biological processes. This proposal seeks to develop a fully biological process to create an innovative and efficient manufacturing route for producing D lactic acid that reduces the dependency on fossil oil, leading to the de-carbonisation of the industrial process for the production of PLA. The collaboration brings together Rebio Technologies Ltd, the University of Bath and the Centre for Process Innovation (CPI). Rebio have expertise in the development of industrial strains based on a Geobacillus host for the production of 2nd generation bioethanol from a wide range of feedstocks such as cane bagasse, corn stover and fractions derived from municipal solid waste. This is combined with knowledge of the development of different biopolymers and their potential markets, and they are in a position to take a successful project forward into production. The University of Bath have considerable expertise in the genetic engineering of a wide range of organisms but specifically have a background in Geobacillus and will carry out the necessary strain engineering to convert an L-lactate to a D-lactate producing strain. CPI brings knowledge of the downstream processing of lactic acid and in the area of process scale up and will be able to evaluate market potential from data arising from from scale-up experiments .