Improving Enzyme Technologies for Better Green Manufacturing of Biofuels

As rising fuel costs and global warming drive development of new, green manufacturing processes for the production of clean transportation fuels, Oregon BEST researchers Greg Rorrer, Ganti Murthy, Christine Kelly, and Curtis Lajoie at Oregon State University are developing the use of unique enzymes to improve the extraction of oil from algae and the production of ethanol from biomass.

Biodiesel from Alage

In the near future, algae might replace oilseed crops, such as canola, as the sustainable feedstock for biodiesel production. Why? Because these photosynthetic microorganisms can rapidly make lipid-rich oils from sunlight and CO2 on a large scale, and algae doesn’t compete with food production.

Currently, harsh organic solvents are used to extract lipid-rich substances from algae, and the residual cell mass, which is rich in complex carbohydrates, is then discarded. This Oregon BEST project is developing biological catalysts called enzymes to break apart the algal cells and release their lipids without the use of solvents. This process will simultaneously break down the complex carbohydrates in the residual cell mass into fermentable sugars so that nothing is wasted.

This green processing approach has significant commercial potential to create biotechnology-based industry in Oregon to service the needs of an emerging algal biofuels industry. If this Oregon BEST research shows that enzyme mixtures can be developed to isolate lipids from algae while converting the residual material to fermentable sugars in a way that is cheaper and more environmentally sustainable than existing practices, the market potential for these enzyme mixtures could be $50 to $100 million annually once algal biodiesel refineries come online.

Better Ethanol Production

Production of ethanol from cellulosic biomass (straw, wood waste, or corn stover) uses cellulase enzymes to convert cellulose into glucose molecules that can be fermented to ethanol. However, these cellulase enzymes are a major cost in the ethanol production process, especially because a component of cellulosic biomass — lignin — poisons cellulase enzymes, rendering them inactive.

Oregon BEST researchers are investigating production of a major class of fungal enzymes that can break down lignin, thereby reducing the use of cellulase enzymes and the costs of ethanol production. Researchers are focusing on manganese peroxidase (MnP), a ligninolytic enzyme that is an environmentally-friendly catalyst in the physical and chemical transformation of wood into usable manufacturing feedstocks and high-value bioproducts.

Because enzymes are high-value products in the sustainable industries business sector, commercialization of novel wood-processing enzymes would support sustainable industry development throughout Oregon by improving how the state’s existing agricultural and forest resources are converted to bioproducts.

Return to Project List