Enzymatic Transformation of Hemicelluloses to Bioplastics

Conference poster, 2012

Hemicelluloses being the second most abundant biopolymer on Earth are getting more attention in the recent years for having a great potential as a renewable source for materials, fine chemicals and fuels. The focus of this study is to modify molecular architecture of spruce arabinoglucuronoxylan (AGX) and to gain better understanding of structure-material properties relationships. Chemical acetylation and gradient debranching of arabinoxylan has been carried out and material properties have been evaluated. The recent work is more focused on enzymatic acetylation and acylation. Most of our enzymatic modifications are based on enzymes with a proven record in biocatalytic reactions. In parallel, we target the use of more specific acting enzymes as well. These enzymes are commercially not available yet, so this part includes enzyme cloning and production. The desired product is a thermoplastic biomaterial suitable for packaging or as binder / matrix in a biocomposite.