Project Number: 3620-41000-135-00
Project Type: Appropriated

Start Date: Sep 19, 2009
End Date: Sep 18, 2014

Objective:
The broad goal of this project is to improve the biochemical processes for converting agricultural materials to fuels and chemicals, which will consequently enable cost reductions and increase profitability of biorefining. Research will focus on significant technical challenges that must be overcome to achieve cost-competitive conversion of agricultural feedstocks to biofuels. Objective 1: Develop commercially-viable technologies based on novel deconstruction enzymes for hydrolyzing ligno-cellulose. Objective 2: Develop, via genetic engineering, strains of pentose-utilizing gram-positive bacteria that enable commercially-viable processes for producing fuel-grade ethanol or butanol from ligno-cellulosic hydrolyzates. Objective 3: Develop commercially-preferred methods for preventing, detecting, controlling, and/or correcting economically-harmful microbial contamination in ethanol production facilities. Objective 4: Develop, via high-throughput methods, enzyme and/or microbial-based technologies that enable new commercially-viable coproducts from ethanol fermentations.

Approach:
The growth and sustainability of bioenergy production in the United States (U.S.) are hindered by a number of technical and commercial barriers. Biochemical conversion of lignocellulosic biomass to fuels and chemicals is technically feasible, but inefficiencies in the process make it economically impractical. Accomplishing the objectives will help overcome significant technical challenges to producing sustainable fuels and chemicals from agricultural feedstocks.