MycoFuelChem - MYCO-fuels and MYCO-chemicals: Consolidated bioprocessing of biomasses into advanced fuels and high value compounds in fungal cell factories
Inspired by the way bioconversion of biomass takes place in nature, we have designed a concept for consolidated bioprocessing of biomass into advanced biofuels and biochemicals for oil replacement. The core of the present project is development of fungal cell factories where biomass is degraded and compounds are produced in the same tank using low cost biomass (primarily garden/park refuse and household waste). The project will work with development of a consolidated fungal cell factory that directly converts biomass into either hydrocarbons or organic acids. Among the innovative ideas in the project are: 1) Creating new products from plant residuals from garden/park in combination with household waste for nutrient supply using new innovative ways of production in designed cell factories. 2) Efficient conversion of biomass by fungal cells that are improved by effective enzymes so that only mild inexpensive pre-treatment of biomass is necessary, thereby reducing the operating costs. 3) Development of fungal strains that produce hydrocarbons for infrastructure ready drop-in replacement fuels. 4) Development of fungal strains that produce important organic acids for conversion into high-value biochemicals. The project will bring a new coordinated force into Danish research through a close strategic collaboration among scientists at AAU, DTU, Washington State University (WSU, USA) and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL, USA). The project will make use of the unique user facility Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL) a US Department of Energy user facility. Scientists from the two private companies, Novozymes A/S and Solum A/S, will work side-by-side with the academic researchers in the project and will deliver significant part of the overall project.
The aim of the project was to develop consolidated fungal cell factories that integrate the hydrolysis of a complex biomass with the production of biofuels or biochemicals. A new idea was further to use residuals from garden/park/household refuses to lower cost of the raw material for these new cell factories. To ensure rapid development of the project as well as maximize collaboration between the partners in the project, the project was concentrated on one specific fungal strain Aspergillus carbonarius ITEM 5010. This strain is a well-known industrial strain, which will benefit future implementation of results developed from the project. Overall the project has resulted in numerous important results and discoveries. Of major importance is the tool-box, which was developed and evaluated during the project including the implementation of the CRISPER/Cas9 genome editing tool.
Of industrially important strain developed during the project are mutants producing high value dicarboxylic acid and strains capable of producing pentadecane and heptacedane, hydrocarbon with a direct application for production of aviation biofuels. The possibility of producing aviation fuels components directly from biomass is a major innovative and game-changing finding- and the result hit the world press and was communicated all over the world.
Key figures
Participants
| Partner | Subsidy | Auto financing |
|---|---|---|
| Aalborg Universitet (Fredrik Bajers Vej) | 10,16 mio. DKK | 1,03 mio. DKK |
| Danmarks Tekniske Universitet (DTU) | 7,35 mio. DKK | 0,73 mio. DKK |
| Washington State University (USA) | 1,88 mio. DKK | 0,56 mio. DKK |
| NOVOZYMES A/S | 8,00 mio. DKK | |
| Solum A/S. AIKAN | 0,50 mio. DKK | 0,35 mio. DKK |
