Monday, May 4, 2009 - 1:00 PM
5-01

Thermostable fungal lignocellulosic biomass saccharification enzyme cocktail

Manoj Kumar, DSM White Biotechnology, DSM Innovation Inc., 45 Waterview Blvd, Parsippany, NJ 07054

Lignocellulosic biomass is the most abundant, least expensive renewable natural biological resource for the production of biobased products and bioenergy is important for the sustainable development of human civilization in 21st century.

For making the fermentable sugars from lignocellulosic biomass, a reduction in cellulase production cost, an improvement in cellulase performance, and an increase in sugar yields are all vital to reduce the processing costs of biorefineries. Improvements in specific cellulase activities for non-complexed cellulase mixtures can be implemented through cellulase engineering based on rational design or directed evolution for each cellulase component enzyme, as well as on the reconstitution of cellulase components. In this presentation, we will update on DSM efforts on developing thermostable enzyme cocktail for saccharification of lignocellulosic biomass.