Alongside the need for improved biofuel additives, at the heart of the biofuel industry lies the need for an improved process for breaking down the complex carbohydrates in biomass.
The basic process of biofuel and biochemical manufacturing involves turning cellulose from plant cells into simpler chemicals, for example glucose. This in turn can then be converted, for example by fermentation, into more industrially practical raw materials or chemical products, such as ethanol, a form of biofuel.
However, breaking down cellulose is not chemically easy. In the world of the biofuel and biochemical industries it is currently the most expensive and time-consuming part of the process.
The problem is, as the online scientific journal Phys.org explains, “… because enzymes typically stop working at temperatures higher than 70 °C and when in industrial solvents like ionic liquids.”
Understanding this challenge, a team of researchers from Imperial College's Department of Chemical Engineering have modified an enzyme so that it can work in both of these environments.
As the journal reports, “To make glucosidase more robust, Dr Alex Brogan [the study’s lead author] and colleagues altered the enzyme’s chemical structure to let it withstand heat of up to 137 °C. The alteration also meant they could use the enzyme in ionic liquids instead of the usual water, and that they could use one enzyme instead of three.”
As a result of these combined factors, the team found that glucose output increased 30-fold. This means that, if the process were to be taken up on an industrial-scale, fuel-related carbon emissions could fall by as much as 80-100%.
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The significance of this breakthrough was highlighted by the team when they published their findings in the journal Nature Chemistry. Here they state that the, “… results establish that through a combination of chemical biology (enzyme modification) and reaction engineering (solvent choice), the biocatalytic capability of enzymes can be intensified: a key step towards the full-scale deployment of industrial biocatalysis.”
As well as making biochemical production more economic, the process will help reduce the environmental impact of biofuel manufacturing. As Dr Brogan notes, “We've made bioprocessing faster, which will require less equipment and will reduce carbon footprint. One major advantage of this will be increased biofuel production—potentially helping biofuels become more widespread as a result.”
A point supported by the study’s senior author Dr Jason Hallett, when he said, “Using biofuels made from corn starch, trees and other plant matter for vehicles and even electricity generation could massively reduce carbon emissions.”
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In fact, the improved enzyme could not only influence mankind’s energy production but also the manufacture of many chemical products. Perhaps in the future biomass will be an economic and widely used raw material for products as far ranging as plastics, cosmetics, and medicines. Altering enzymes in this way could also lead to more efficient processes for recycling plastic or waste chemicals.
Ultimately, the discovery of a faster technique for making chemical raw materials from renewable feedstocks is a key step towards a more sustainable chemical industry.
Photo credit: ImperialCollege & ImgKid
