Extrapolation of design strategies for lignocellulosic biomass conversion to the challenge of plastic waste

Abstract

The goal of cost-effective production of fuels and chemicals from biomass has been a substantial driver of the development of the field of Metabolic Engineering. The resulting design principles and procedures provide a guide for the development of cost-effective methods for degradation, and possibly even valorization, of plastic wastes. Here we highlight these parallels, using the creative work of Lonnie O'Neal (Neal) Ingram in enabling production of fuels and chemicals from lignocellulosic biomass, with a focus on ethanol production as an exemplar process.

Strategic nutrient sourcing for biomanufacturing intensification

“…A systematic evaluation of bioprocess designs for more than 200 high-production volume chemicals (at least 500 MT produced annually in the United States) from glucose determined that roughly 75% were unlikely to achieve economic viability (Wu et al., 2018 ). However, there is an increasing demand for bioprocesses that start with the desire to consume, remediate, or detoxify a complex waste stream, such as lignin (Kamimura et al., 2019 ), food waste (Isah & Ozbay, 2020 ), plastic waste (Jarboe et al., 2022 ; Skariyachan et al., 2022 ), industrial off-gas (Liew et al., 2016 ), and others (Saeed et al., 2022 ). To this end, a wide range of organisms have been studied for their ability to consume these wastes with the goal of capture, recycling, or valorization through the production of value-added chemicals (Gerotto et al., 2020 ; Liu & Hong, 2021 ; Verschoor et al., 2022 ).…”