Fantastic article and history! My hobby this year has been to read all I can about this topic. Deep eutetic solvents, hydrothermal carbonization, even microbial fuel/electrolyzer cells as well as fresh water and marine algae production for oil are all on the menu. Thank you for writing and sharing your knowledge so generously!
Computational materials scientist here. Maybe this is a naive question since it isn't my field, but is it economically feasible to produce cellulase? My assumption has been that anything requiring precise control over monomeric sequence (e.g., an enzyme or any functional protein) would be expensive to produce in large quantities.
We use cellulases all the time in laundry detergents. There are two types, endo and exo, and they attack different parts of the cellulose polymer, but the issue I think has historically been its a long cycle time.
Typically, to speed up reaction rates you might run the reaction hotter, but you can't run an enzymatic reaction too hot or you'll denature the enzyme. This is the big benefit of immobilized enzymes, but due to the active site of the cellulases and how they actually attach to the cellulose polymer (they have these little binding domains), I'm not sure they would work in an immobilized system, but here is a report of it working: https://amb-express.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s13568-019-0835-0
You either need immobilization technology that maintains high activity or an engineered enzyme that can operate at high temps (maybe both?) and then you need I think another enzyme that breaks down the very small oligomers into glucose (also engineered/immobilized).
At a minimum I think you need a cascade type reactor (writing about Cascade Biocatalysts too in the coming weeks).
Via black liquor soap acidulation you also get crude tall oil and crude sulfate turpentine from the Kraft process.
For over a century, the Pine Chemicals' industry has been getting valuable, unsubsidized chemicals from this beautiful example of industrial symbiosis... Too bad: otherwise we could depict ourselves as an exciting up-and-coming "unicorn"! ;)
OK, I must correct myself: it's not "over a century" but rather 74 years. :)
“The first successful separation of CTO into high-purity tall-oil fatty acids (TOFA) and tall-oil rosin (TOR) was performed by Arizona Chemical at Panama City, Florida, in 1949,” Stauffer notes. “Commercial production and sale of TOR was initiated in 1950 by the USDA, with production between 1951-1953 averaged 7,961 tonnes/year.”
Also, I think the majority of the furfurals have historically come from corncobs, like if you ever need furfural alcohol that's typically biobased. I hope you never do cause it's dangerous.
Fantastic article and history! My hobby this year has been to read all I can about this topic. Deep eutetic solvents, hydrothermal carbonization, even microbial fuel/electrolyzer cells as well as fresh water and marine algae production for oil are all on the menu. Thank you for writing and sharing your knowledge so generously!
Nice background on cellulosics Tony. And yes, looking forward to your write-up about MetGen.
Computational materials scientist here. Maybe this is a naive question since it isn't my field, but is it economically feasible to produce cellulase? My assumption has been that anything requiring precise control over monomeric sequence (e.g., an enzyme or any functional protein) would be expensive to produce in large quantities.
We use cellulases all the time in laundry detergents. There are two types, endo and exo, and they attack different parts of the cellulose polymer, but the issue I think has historically been its a long cycle time.
Typically, to speed up reaction rates you might run the reaction hotter, but you can't run an enzymatic reaction too hot or you'll denature the enzyme. This is the big benefit of immobilized enzymes, but due to the active site of the cellulases and how they actually attach to the cellulose polymer (they have these little binding domains), I'm not sure they would work in an immobilized system, but here is a report of it working: https://amb-express.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s13568-019-0835-0
You either need immobilization technology that maintains high activity or an engineered enzyme that can operate at high temps (maybe both?) and then you need I think another enzyme that breaks down the very small oligomers into glucose (also engineered/immobilized).
At a minimum I think you need a cascade type reactor (writing about Cascade Biocatalysts too in the coming weeks).
Awesome, thanks! I’ll check out the paper.
Nice coverage of lignocellulosic feedstocks. Hope to hear about industrial applications of various lignins. Also look forward to MetGen's examples.
Nice overview, Tony!
Via black liquor soap acidulation you also get crude tall oil and crude sulfate turpentine from the Kraft process.
For over a century, the Pine Chemicals' industry has been getting valuable, unsubsidized chemicals from this beautiful example of industrial symbiosis... Too bad: otherwise we could depict ourselves as an exciting up-and-coming "unicorn"! ;)
OK, I must correct myself: it's not "over a century" but rather 74 years. :)
“The first successful separation of CTO into high-purity tall-oil fatty acids (TOFA) and tall-oil rosin (TOR) was performed by Arizona Chemical at Panama City, Florida, in 1949,” Stauffer notes. “Commercial production and sale of TOR was initiated in 1950 by the USDA, with production between 1951-1953 averaged 7,961 tonnes/year.”
Source:
https://www.icis.com/explore/resources/news/2009/05/18/9215208/fats-and-oils-aim-for-industrial-comeback/
Kraton has that business now I believe.
Also, I think the majority of the furfurals have historically come from corncobs, like if you ever need furfural alcohol that's typically biobased. I hope you never do cause it's dangerous.
By far the best lignin break down (pun intended) out there! Looking forward to the MetGen piece.