Advanced Chemical Design for Efficient Lignin Bioconversion

作者:Xie Shangxian; Sun Qining; Pu Yunqiao; Lin Furong; Sun Su; Wang Xin; Ragauskas Arthur J; Yuan Joshua S*
来源:ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering, 2017, 5(3): 2215-2223.
DOI:10.1021/acssuschemeng.6b02401

摘要

Lignin depolymerization mainly involves redox reactions relying on the effective electron transfer. Even though electron mediators were previously used for delignification of paper pulp, no study has established a bioprocess to fragment and solubilize the lignin with an effective laccase-mediator system, in particular, for subsequent microbial bioconversion. Efficient lignin depolymerization was achieved by screening proper electron mediators with laccase to attain a nearly 6-fold increase of kraft lignin solubility compared to the control kraft lignin without laccase treatment. Chemical analysis suggested the release of a low molecular weight fraction of kraft lignin into the solution phase. Moreover, NMR analysis revealed that an efficient enzyme-mediator system can promote the lignin degradation. More importantly, the fundamental mechanisms guided the development of an efficient lignin bioconversion process, where solubilized lignin from laccase-HBT treatment served as a superior substrate for bioconversion by Rhodococcus opacus PD630. The cell growth was increased by 106 fold, and the lipid titer reached 1.02 g/L. Overall, the study has manifested that an efficient enzyme-mediator-microbial system can be exploited to establish a bioprocess to solubilize lignin, cleave lignin linkages, modify the structure, and produce substrates amenable to bioconversion.

  • 出版日期2017-3