Developing commercial grade bioprocesses: differences in organism and overall process design when using biomass versus conventional sugars

Oil and natural gas are used as the primary raw materials in the production of a wide range of large-volume chemicals and polymers.  New process technologies based on biotechnology have the potential to make these same products from alternative feedstocks, with better economics, lower energy consumption, and reduced greenhouse gas emissions.  

Genomatica has developed a complete, commercial-scale bioprocess for the production of 1,4-butanediol (BDO) from carbohydrate feedstocks, which has been used to produce thousands of tons of BDO and been licensed by BASF and Novamont. BDO is a chemical intermediate (> 1.6M tonnes/yr) that goes into products including automotive, electronics and apparel (such as spandex).  While use of conventional sugars as feedstock is suitable in many regions, there is substantial interest in enabling the use of non-food, biomass-derived sugars, to suit regional preferences and avoid any potential food chain overlap.  However, uptake and utilization of biomass sugars such as xylose, arabinose, and prominent hydrolysate polysaccharides requires different metabolic pathways with a unique set of constraints that are different than the now-proven approach for conventional sugars; likewise, the downstream process steps are different, and as such, enable further choices in organism design to optimize the overall process. Genomatica’s systems-based, integrated biotechnology platform, which incorporates models for commercial-scale bioprocess design and operation proved invaluable in deciphering the metabolic bottlenecks and opening the gates to improved performance.

This presentation will cover the development of a complete BDO bioprocess and the impact of using conventional sugars vs. non-food biomass-derived sugars on the design and economics of a commercial facility.