Busy, productive microbes use enzymes to break down leaves, stalks and other biomass and then convert that material into renewable fuels and chemicals.
Busy, productive microbes use enzymes to break down leaves, stalks and other biomass and then convert that material into renewable fuels and chemicals. But some of those enzymes can’t function at the high temperatures or acidity that maintain low operating costs for fermentation processes.
A research team led by Iowa State University’s Laura Jarboe will try to fix that problem by identifying rougher, tougher enzymes and engineering microbes to use them in industrial fermentation. Their work is supported by a three-year, $969,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy.
“We want to make these microbes more robust,” said Jarboe, Iowa State’s Cargill Professor of Chemical Engineering. “To do that, we need to think about the problem for the microbes. We can’t just say, ‘Do better.’”
In this case, enzymes that require cooling or pH (acidity/alkalinity) adjustments to remain active are costly problems. Some of these enzymes are vital to the microbes’ ability to convert bio-based substrates into products, and some are vital for organism survival.
Read more at: Iowa State University
Researchers are working to identify and produce robust enzymes that can replace other enzymes that break down in the fermentation of bio-based fuels and chemicals. ( Photo Credit: Laura Jarboe)
