Development of a novel thermophilic biomass degrader

Introduction

The Bio-Based Economy aims at the use of renewable substrates for the production of green products as alternative to fossil fuel-based chemicals. Lactic acid is such a product and has great potential as a precursor for bioplastics that could (partly) replace conventional plastics. The envisioned platform for its production is the biorefinery concept as given in Fig. 1.

The biorefinery concept aims at the conversion of 2nd generation feedstock (non-edible biomass) to green products by several distinct production steps. In short; biomass is pre-treated to make (hemi)cellulosic substrates accessible to enzymes, which can break down these substrates to sugars. These sugars are then used by microbes to produce various products, like green chemicals. The biorefinery economics are restricted by the high costs of enzymes (Fig. 1; step 3). Consequently, the production of chemicals is still dominated by the cheaper petrochemical industries. By creating a new concept in which the (hemi)cellulose hydrolysis and sugar conversion are performed by the same (mix of) thermophilic microbes in one tank, costs may be reduced to a competitive level. This process is also referred to as Consolidated Bioprocessing.

Scope of the project

This project aims at the isolation and development of microbes harbouring (hemi)cellulolytic activity and good lactic acid production potential (Fig. 1; red box). The project comprises strain isolation, characterization and selection, genome sequencing, metabolic reconstruction and metabolic engineering. We work with relatively unexplored species, which makes this a very exciting and new project with a close link to practical application.

Techniques

Techniques that you will use during your project may include metabolic engineering (which includes for example cloning of interesting genes and improving transformation efficiency of genetically recalcitrant species), strain characterization of novel species, fermentation with lab scale bioreactors HPLC analysis, bioinformatic analyses such as metabolic reconstruction, etc.

Contact information

For more information about an internship, thesis or other form of student project, please feel free to contact me by e-mail, phone, or just pass by: Tijn.Daas@wur.nl or Address: Dreijenplein 10, WUR building nr 316, room 0.022. Phone: +31(0)317483748.