Industrial xylanolytic yeast for lignocellulosic bioethanol production

Research Project, 2018 – 2019

A future biobased society relies on an efficient utilization of renewable raw materials for production of fuels, chemicals and materials. Xylan is the second to cellulose most common polysaccharide in nature and can comprise up to 35% of the total dry weight of plants. Xylan is however still an underutilized resource, and it is of utmost importance that we learn to make use of all sugars in lignocellulose to create economically feasible processes. The project aim is to develop industrial yeast strains that can break down and ferment xylan to ethanol. Genes encoding enzymes that can degrade xylan will be taken from other microorganisms and inserted into the yeast genome using the state-of-the-art technique “CRISPR/Cas9”. The strains produced will be able to ferment mildly pretreated lignocellulosic hydrolysates with considerably improved production yields compared to the starting strain.
Two leading companies for yeast strain development and ethanol production act as project end-users; Gothenburg-based Taurus Energy AB and Argentinean Porta Hnos A.S., providing expertise and new perspectives on research utilization and industrial fermentations.