(782f) Biochemical Production of High-Value Products From Pyrolyzed Woody Biomass By Design of Catabolic Pathways

Conversion of plant biomass to drop-in transportation fuels is a promising approach for energy sustainability. In particular, woody biomass can be threshed and pyrolyzed to create a bio oil. When pyrolyzed in absence of alkali cations and fractionated by water, two streams result: a water-insoluble fraction composed mainly of deconstructed lignin that can be used, after upgrading, as diesel fuel, and a water-soluble fraction chiefly composed of anhydrosugars and small molecular weight lignin. The water-soluble fraction contributes to the instability of the bio oil over time, can degrade engine performance and, hence, should be separated and converted to products that satisfy a different market niche than diesel. In this regard, microbial-mediated conversion of the water-soluble fraction affords the production of a wide range of high value co-products, potentially subsidizing the low margin diesel fuel. There are two main impediments to this strategy. First, catabolic routes for deconstructing the water-soluble fraction exist but are inefficient. Second, the water-soluble fraction is toxic to many microbes, necessitating costly detoxification unit operations. In this talk, I will review my group’s strategies to overcome these impediments to economical processing of woody biomass. Particular focus will be on the de novo construction of ideal, efficient catabolic pathways that can convert the water-soluble pyrolyzed biomass into a range of high-value products.