BIOSYNTHESIS OF FOUR CARBON ALCOHOLS FROM SUSTAINABLE FEEDSTOCK

Abstract

Butanol and 2,3-butanediol are not only important intermediate chemicals, but also considered as promising next-generation liquid fuels. However, the high cost of traditional feedstocks restrict the development of industrial butanol and 2,3-butanediol fermentation. Isolation of novel solventogenic bacteria which possess unique characteristics have been regarded as thorough solutions for sustainable development of ABE and 2,3-butanediol production. The newly isolated Clostridium sp. strain BOH3 efficiently solves the bottleneck caused by the low-xylose utilization existing in wild-type Clostridium species. And rational design of co-culturing system using hemicellulose-degrading Kluyvera sp. strain OM3 and solventogenic strain BOH3 firstly achieves direct butanol production from hemicellulose, which could further reduce the cost of butanol production caused by the addition of lignocelluloses-degrading enzymes. Additionally, a novel 2,3-butanediol producing bacteria without by-product, process optimization and strain improvement via chemical mutagenesis resulted in 119.4 g/L of 2,3-butanediol, which provide a feasible and economical strategy to produce industrially important 2,3-butanediol.