SEED FUND 2.0 project Lignin2Value

Valorization of lignin from agricultural residues for integrated biorefinery

Results

For the development of economically feasible biorefinery concepts value-added strategies for the three main components of lignocellulose – lignin, cellulose and hemicellulose – are needed. While for cellulose and non-cellulosic polysaccharides several valorization strategies have been developed, the conversion of lignin into high-value products is still a crucial challenge. The recalcitrance and complex structure of lignin makes depolymerization into soluble mono- and oligolignols, that can be utilized by microorganisms like Corynebacterium glutamicum as carbon source, quite difficult. Nature has evolved various enzymes that act synergistically to break down lignin and have been produced and applied within the Lignin2Value project to generate monolignols from OrganoCat-lignin as carbon source for C. glutamicum. OrganoCat-lignin fractions from agricultural residues with different β-O-4-linkage content were treated with a set of recombinant lignin-degrading enzymes resulting in formation of several lignin-derived monomers. Benzoic acid and vanillic acid were shown to be utilized by C. glutamicum as sole carbon source while other monolignols have to be identified yet and/or tested as carbon source of C. glutamicum.

SEED FUND 2.0 Coordinator

Dr. Katja Koschorreck
Chair of Biochemistry II
Heinrich Heine University
phone: +49 211 81 10749
email: katja.koschorreck@hhu.de

Partners

Dr. Philippe Grande, IBG-2: Plant Sciences, Forschungszentrum Jülich

Dr.-Ing. Stephan Noack, IBG-1: Biotechnology, Forschungszentrum Jülich

Funding period

01.09.2019 - 28.02.2021

Funding

Lignin2Value is is part of the NRW-Strategieprojekt BioSC and thus funded by the Ministry of Culture and Science of the German State of North Rhine-Westphalia.

Publications

Schmitz, F, Koschorreck, K, Hollmann, F and Urlacher, VB (2023). Aromatic hydroxylation of substituted benzenes by an unspecific peroxygenase from Aspergillus brasiliensis. Reaction Chemistry & Engineering 8(9): 2177-2186.