Waste Stream Valorisation: Solving sustainable chemical production

工业化学品生产依赖于化石燃料原料和工艺，这些原料和工艺是不可持续的，对气候造成毁灭性影响。基于生物的生产是一种很有前途的替代方案，在这种方案中，可持续的碳源和工程微生物可以用来生产各种商品化学品。该项目旨在开发一条管道，以大幅减少时间和成本，以创造能够生产我们所需化学品的细菌菌株。实施基于生物的解决方案的最大障碍之一是用于细菌生长和生产化学品的原料成本。该项目将示范使用替代碳源，从废流中产生稳定的原料，并开发利用高潜力、未充分利用的碳流的新方法，以加快向全球可持续发展的转变。确定底盘：调查常见的大肠埃希氏菌生产菌株利用优势碳源的能力。同时，将对已经适应替代碳源的大肠杆菌菌株进行可比性分析。确定废物流将对选定的农业/高度异质废物流进行初步技术经济分析。之后，可行的废流将被送入平台进行底盘选择和测试。底盘工程在鉴定出一株在优势或替代碳源上表现良好的菌株(S)后，将使用室内基因组测序来阐明这种“适应性”的基因组背景。结合Twig的计算生物学和数据科学专业知识，将采取基因组工程的方法来提高碳的利用。Twig途径的范例任何已识别的底盘或有潜力的改良菌株都将用于表达Twigs专有结构，并在小规模连续系统中进行发酵分析。

Industrial chemical production is reliant on fossil fuel feed stocks and processes, which are unsustainable with a devastating effect on the climate. Bio-based production represents a promising alternative, where sustainable carbon sources and engineered microorganisms can be used to produce a wide variety of commodity chemicals. This project aims to develop a pipeline to drastically decrease the time and costs to create bacterial strains capable of producing the chemicals we need.One of the biggest hurdles to implementing biobased solutions is the cost of feedstocks used for bacterial growth and production of chemicals. This project will exemplify the use of alternative carbon sources, generate consistent feedstocks from waste streams and develop new ways of using high-potential, under-utilised carbon streams to accelerate the switch to global sustainability.Objectives1. Identifying the chassis:Investigating common E.coli production strains for their ability to use advantaged carbon sources. In parallel a comparable analysis of strains of E. coli already adapted to alternative carbon sources will be carried out.2. Identifying waste streamsAn initial techno-economic analysis will be carried out on a selection of Agricultural/highly heterogeneous waste streams. After which viable waste streams will be fed into the platform for chassis selection and tested.3. Chassis engineeringAfter identification of a strain(s) that perform well on advantaged or alternative carbon sources, in house genomic sequencing will be used to elucidate the genomic context of this "fitness". Combined with Twig's computational biology and data science expertise, a genome engineering approach will be taken to increase carbon utilization.4. Exemplification with Twig pathwayAny identified chassis or modified strain that shows potential will be used to express Twigs proprietary constructs and subjected to fermentation analysis in a small scale continuous system.