Bioproducing succinic acid from hydrolysate of biomass waste in a biofilm reactor

琥珀酸是一种重要的平台化学品，已被确定为未来最有潜力的化学结构单元之一。琥珀酸目前主要通过石油化工工艺生产。从化石燃料到可持续发展的可再生原料的转变已经开始，琥珀酸发酵走向生物基经济。然而，目前琥珀酸的生物生产主要局限于传统原料，采用批量操作模式，导致生产率较低，且存在食品原料竞争。为了探索利用生物质废弃物生产琥珀酸的经济和环境可行性，必须克服生物质水解物的抑制和低生产率等关键技术挑战。鉴于产琥珀酸放线杆菌（Actinobacillussuccinnogenes）等产酸菌在一定条件下具有聚集特性，本项目旨在探索产琥珀酸放线杆菌的聚集潜力，并开发附着生物膜或自聚集微生物颗粒，用于生物质废弃物水解液连续发酵生产琥珀酸。由于细胞附着于载体或自聚集形成的三维结构，可以减轻发酵液中水解产物和琥珀酸的抑制作用。此外，这种基于生物膜的技术不仅可以在反应器中保留更高的生物量，还可以实现连续发酵，提高生产率。除了用于连续发酵琥珀酸的基于生物膜的工艺开发之外，本项目将对丁二酸生产过程中的能量性能和CO2固定进行分析，以与传统的基于悬浮细胞的葡萄糖分批发酵进行比较，并对新开发的工艺的环境可持续性进行评估。本项目适合在以下方面具有较强程度的候选人：生物技术、生物工程、生物化学工程、生物学、化学工程、环境工程或相关学科。如果你想讨论这个项目的任何细节

Succinic acid is an important platform chemical and has been identified as one of the top potential chemical building blocks for the future. Succinic acid is currently manufactured mainly by petrochemical processes. A move from fossil fuel to renewable raw materials for sustainable development has been started for succinic acid fermentation towards a biobased economy. However, the bioproduction of succinic acid is mainly restricted to conventional feedstock with a batch operation mode at the moment, resulting in low productivity and feedstock competition for food. To explore the economic and environmental feasibility of succinic acid bioproduction with widely available biomass waste, the key technical challenges such as inhibition from biomass hydrolysate and low productivity have to be overcome. Given the aggregation characteristics of some organic acid-producing species such as Actinobacillus succinnogenes for succinic acid production under some conditions, this project aims to explore the aggregation potential of Actinobacillus succinnogenes and develop either attached biofilm or self-aggregated microbial granules for continuous bioproduction of succinic acid from hydrolysate of biomass waste. The inhibition from hydrolysate and succinic acid in fermentation broth could be alleviated due to the three-dimensional structure formed by cell attachment to support or self-aggregation. Furthermore, this biofilm-based technology can not only retain higher biomass in reactors but also enable continuous fermentation with improved productivity. Apart from biofilm-based process development for continuous fermentation of succinic acid, the analysis of energy performance and CO2 fixation in the succinic acid production process will be carried out in this project for the comparison with conventional suspended cells based batch fermentation with glucose as well as the evaluation of the environmental sustainability of the newly developed process.This project would suit candidates with a strong degree in Biotechnology, Bioengineering, Biochemical Engineering, Biology, Chemical Engineering, Environmental Engineering, or closely related disciplines. If you wish to discuss any details of the project