Carbon conserving microbial production of adipic acid from sugars and crude glycerol feedstocks
Microbial processes are a sustainable and renewable alternative to using petroleum-dependent chemocatalytic processes for making chemicals. Yet, in contrast to petrochemical processes, microbial processes are simply not as carbon efficient. Most biosynthetic pathways to make chemicals from bio-based feedstocks (e.g., sugars, glycerol, carbon-rich waste streams) involve the loss of feedstock carbon as CO2, limiting theoretical yields to <67%. This carbon loss is a major reason why many endeavors are not profitable when using microbes to produce chemicals. Feedstocks typically comprise more than half of the costs associated with bioprocesses. Thus, if microbes could direct most/all of the feedstock carbon to the target product, the resulting increase in theoretical yields (up to 50% higher) would allow for higher quantities of product, in turn reducing costs. Bioprocesses based on such carbon conserving technologies would have lower capital expenses (CAPEX) and lower operating expenses (OPEX), yielding systems with cost-competitive economics relative to their oil-based counterparts, which is critical for expanding the number of bio-based chemicals that can be profitably produced. Clearly, the chemical industry and the field of biotechnology would benefit from revolutionary ideas founded on carbon conservation. At ZymoChem, we have developed a unique carbon conserving (C2) technology that relies on non-natural biosynthetic pathways (patent-pending), which we designed to give microbes the capability to build chemicals from various sources of renewable carbon without the loss of the feedstock carbon as CO2. An exemplary application of our C2 technology is our de novo designed Polymer Precursor (PoP) pathway, which can enable the synthesis of several commodity chemicals including adipic acid, one of two precursors for making nylon 6,6. Five key factors make the use of our C2 technology attractive for the commercial production of adipic acid: [1] adipic acid has a large, growing market: ~$5.7 billion/yr; [2] major environmental concerns are associated with petroleum-based adipic acid processes; [3] our C2 technology enables a redox & energy balanced system, in which essentially all feedstock carbon goes toward making adipic acid (i.e., a 100% yield on a carbon-basis); [4] the compatibility of our C2 technology with anaerobic fermentations lends to lower CAPEX and OPEX vs. aerobic bioprocesses; and [5] most importantly, our novel adipic acid bioprocess has the potential for superior economics (>40% cost reduction) compared to state-of-the-art petro-based production methods – even at today’s oil prices – which is key for market adoption.
- Research Organization:
- ZymoChem Inc
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- SC0013211
- OSTI ID:
- 1478417
- Type / Phase:
- SBIR (Phase II)
- Report Number(s):
- DOE-ZYMO-13211
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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