Tina Jeoh, Herb Scher, Monica C. Santa-Maria, and Chadwick Wyler. Biological and Agricultural Engineering, University of California, Davis, One Shields Ave., Davis, CA 95616
Enzymatic saccharification of biomass represents a significant cost in the conversion of lignocellulosic biomass to renewable biofuels. Challenges include high costs of enzymes, inefficiency in the saccharification reactions and high costs of operating the saccharification process itself. In this project, we address these challenges by investigating the application of encapsulated plant cell wall degrading enzymes (PCWDE) in high solids saccharification reactions. Literature studies have demonstrated that the greatest efficiency in saccharification reactions is achieved by optimal ratios of the various synergistically acting enzymes. Cellulolytic organisms, induced to secrete PCWDEs, produce these enzymes in the optimized ratios. Current methods of incorporating liquid enzyme broths containing PCWDEs rely on mass transport of these enzymes to substrate reactive sites. Thus, in high-solids saccharification configurations, saccharification inefficiencies increase with increasing mass transfer limitations in the system. The innovation in applying encapsulated PCWDEs in high-solids saccharification of lignocellulosic biomass lies in ensuring homogeneous incorporation of optimal ratios of the enzymes with the biomass, overcoming the need to rely on mass transfer of the enzymes post-incorporation to target the optimal enzyme ratios to reactive sites in the substrate.
