Development of a Tobacco Biorefinery

Commercial development of a tobacco biorefinery will require production of multiple products from different parts of the tobacco plant. When cultivated for biomass rather than for smoking, tobacco naturally produces large volumes of proteins with high nutritional value. However, it is important to identify marketable co-products in order to make the biorefinery concept feasible. This project looks at two promising co-products which could be recovered from tobacco: fermentable sugars and prebiotic oligosaccharides. The sugars appear valuable as a source of raw materials for the production of industrial chemicals, or as a source of energy. There is also evidence that the aqeuous extract of tobacco biomass possesses significant "prebiotic" activity, i.e., it stimulates the growth of bacteria which are beneficial to the health of human or animal gastrointestinal tracts. This project will examine potential uses for tobacco-derived sugars, as well as assessing tobacco aqueous biomass extract as a source of prebiotic products. We will also seek to develop a manufacturing process for the recovery of the sugars and prebiotic materials.