Harnessing 'waste' biomass to make modified cellulose with valuable rheological properties

该项目的目标是EPSRC不断发展的化学生物学和生物化学研究领域。它包括新颖的研究，既具有根本的兴趣，又具有从自然中创造新材料的工业适用性-特别是从“废”纸浆生物质中创造新材料。通过开发新的，无污染的程序，目标是产生高价值的材料，追求物理性能，特别是可控制的粘度。从农业食品工业下游可获得的廉价、富含纤维素的材料开始（例如，从甜菜和胡萝卜中提取富含糖和维生素的汁液后的果肉），目标是制造有价值的非天然材料——这是将合成生物学应用于一项新的、令人兴奋的、有利于农业技术的物理化学科学研究计划的一个例子。

This project targets the EPSRC's growing Research Area of Chemical Biology and Biological Chemistry. It comprises novel research that is both of fundamental interest and has industrial applicability in creating new materials from Nature - specifically from 'waste' pulp biomass. By developing new, non-polluting procedures, the aim is to generate high-value materials with sought-after physical properties, especially a controllable viscosity. Starting with cheap, cellulose-rich materials available downstream of agri-food industries (e.g. pulp from sugar-beet and carrots after extraction of the sugar- and vitamin-rich juices), the aim is to make valuable non-natural materials - an example of synthetic biology applied to a novel and exciting physicochemical science research programme for the benefit of agricultural technologies.