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Ex Vivo Enzymatic Conversion of Non-food Cellulose Biomass to Starch

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Quality Living Through Chemurgy and Green Chemistry

Part of the book series: Green Chemistry and Sustainable Technology ((GCST))

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Abstract

To meet the world’s rising future food/feed needs, outputs of modern agriculture must grow substantially while minimizing agriculture’s environmental footprint and conserving biodiversity. In this chapter, we propose an ex vivo synthetic enzymatic pathway to enable the transformation of non-food cellulose to amylose, a high-value linear starch, meanwhile glucose released by enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose is used to produce ethanol and/or single-cell protein by yeast fermentation in the same vessel. The strategy of simultaneous enzymatic biotransformation and microbial fermentation is the basis of new biomass biorefineries that would address the food, fuels, and environment trilemma by coproducing food/feed, biomaterials, and biofuels from the most abundant renewable bioresource—non-food lignocellulosic biomass. Toward this development, new directions pertaining to pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass and advanced enzyme engineering are discussed to increase the efficiency of saccharification.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 32 West 7th Avenue, Tianjin Airport Economic Area, Tianjin, 300308, China

    Chun You & Y. H. Percival Zhang

  2. Biological Systems Engineering Department, Virginia Tech, 304 Seitz Hall, Blacksburg, Virginia, 24061, USA

    Chun You & Y. H. Percival Zhang

Authors
  1. Chun You
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  2. Y. H. Percival Zhang
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Chun You or Y. H. Percival Zhang .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tianjin Inst. of Industrial Biotech. Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tianjin, China

    Peter C.K. Lau

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You, C., Zhang, Y.H.P. (2016). Ex Vivo Enzymatic Conversion of Non-food Cellulose Biomass to Starch. In: C.K. Lau, P. (eds) Quality Living Through Chemurgy and Green Chemistry. Green Chemistry and Sustainable Technology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-53704-6_6

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