Within the second FOCUS FUND Call in the frame of the NRW strategy project BioSC, two projects were selected. One refers to the Focus Topic Area „Smart management for plant performance“ and the other to the Focus Topic Area „Modular biotransformations for high-value chemicals“. Three FocusLabs already started in spring 2017.
At present, industrial bioprocesses are predominantly based on a “one substrate – one product” concept. By contrast, the implementation of a sustainable bioeconomy will critically depend on novel high interwoven value networks based on “multi substrate – multi product” processes in biorefineries. Establishing such processes requires the tight integration of microbial biotransformations, enzymatic cascade reactions, chemical synthesis steps, product recovery and technoeconomic analysis, denoted as “hybrid processes”. The development of hybrid processes is still in its infancy due to their inherent complexity, missing scientific background and technical risks.
The FocusLab HyImPAct aims at designing a complex hybrid example process for the combined production of high-value compounds and bulk chemical precursor, starting with D-xylose from lignocellulosic hydrolysates. It focuses on the production of three active pharmaceutical ingredients (1R,2R)-1-(3-hydroxyphenyl) propane-1,2-diol, metaraminol, and (1S,3S,4R)-1-(2-bromophenyl)-3-methyl-1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinoline- 4,6-diol) and their precursors, the bulk chemicals pyruvate, L-alanine and 1,4-butanediol. Corynebacterium glutamicum will serve as a platform organism and will be further engineered towards the utilization of D-xylose containing feedstocks with minimized carbon loss. For the synthesis of the final products, different bio- and chemo-transformation steps are combined. Methods for in-situ product removal are optimized for the efficient purification of precursor and final products.
The work is accompanied by techno-economic analyses, focusing on the comparison between established production routes vs. alternative production routes developed in HyImPAct. These tasks include the development of new models and tools for the design, evaluation and optimization of hybrid processes.
Project leader: Dr. Stephan Noack, Institute of Bio- and Geosciences 1 (IBG-1), Forschungszentrum Jülich
The aim of the FocusLab greenRelease is to significantly reduce the application of fungicides and herbicides and thereby minimize the environmental contamination which is caused by pesticides. The basis for this research approach is the innovative greenRelease technology: tailor-made microgel containers (200 nm bis 10 μM) serve as tanks for compounds, e.g. fungicides, and attach through anchor peptides on plants (on leaves or fruits). The greenRelease technology is plant compatible, biodegradable and the applied anchor peptides will provide a rainfast attachment of the microgels. Moreover, the release of compounds can be controlled over weeks or months. In the frame of the FocusLab, the greenRelease technology will be applied on apples, potatoes, sugar beet, and barley and will be compared to application of commercially available products.
The FocusLab greenRelease is divided into three parts: 1. Technology advancement and upscaling, 2. validation for sustainable agriculture by focusing on two fungicides and two herbicides, and 3. economic assessment by mapping of knowledge basis, technology transfer, evaluation of market acceptance and entry options in respect to the application areas. The latter is aimed at to be achieved by analyzing existing and developing novel value chains for innovations.
Project leader: Dr. Felix Jakob, Chair of Biotechnology, RWTH Aachen University & DWI - Leibniz-Institute for Interactive Materials
About BioSC
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BioSC-Geschäftsstelle
c/o Forschungszentrum Jülich
52425 Jülich
biosc@fz-juelich.de
