Monday, May 4, 2009
12-25
Parallel Plate Processing for High Throughput Pretreatment and Enzymatic Saccharification of Lignocellulosic Materials
Michael J. Selig1, Melvin P. Tucker2, Roman Brunecky1, Michael E. Himmel1, and Stephen R. Decker1. (1) Chemical and Biosciences Center, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, 1617 Cole Blvd., Golden, CO 80401, (2) National Bioenergy Center, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, 1617 Cole Blvd., Golden, CO 80401
Improved understanding on the fundamental nature of biomass recalcitrance is required to advance technologies for the conversion of lignocellulosic materials. This understanding is central to the core research within the DOE-funded BioEnergy Science Center (BESC). Within this center, which includes industrial, academic, and governmental partners, one primary research focus is to identify key factors that contribute to biomass recalcitrance and to apply this knowledge to the development of “improved” (less recalcitrant) plant cell wall materials. Many thousands of plant variants are being screened for increased susceptibility to both pretreatment and enzymatic saccharification, necessitating a high throughput pipeline capable of analyzing thousands of samples per day. In order to meet the screening demands of this effort, a parallel plate processing system was developed for high-throughput analysis of lignocellulosic materials’ response to pretreatment and enzymatic saccharification. The system incorporates state-of-the-art robotics systems for both solids and liquids handling, a novel multi-plate 96-well-plate pretreatment reactor system for running up to 1920 simultaneous chemical/thermal reactions, and enzyme-linked oxidation-reduction assays for the detection of the principle sugars released by the combined processes. This screening system will be an effective tool for the BESC Analysis Pipeline in identifying variations in the recalcitrance of lignocellulosic materials. Outliers identified through this system will be further subjected to a more rigorous analysis of how these specific variants react to chemical pretreatments and subsequent enzymatic saccharification.