Novel Process for Production of Fatty Acids from Lignocellulosic Biomass

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project will demonstrate techno-economic feasibility of a novel bioprocess to produce fatty acids from lignocellulosic biomass leading to commercialization. These fatty acids are primary components of several consumer products such as skincare, cosmetics, soaps, shampoos and vitamins. The proposed process utilizes metabolically engineered E. coli culture to convert sugars (C6 and C5) from lignocellulosic biomass to extracellular fatty acids. The current composition of Fatty acids constitutes Myristic (C14) and Palmitic (C16) acids. Prior Phase I work has demonstrated that sugars (C6 and C5) and industrially produced biomass hydrolysate can be efficiently converted to these fatty acids. The proposing team has far exceeded the original phase I targets and is now significantly more prepared for a phase II and subsequent commercialization. Since, the fatty acids formed are extra-cellular, separation is anticipated to be significantly simpler. Moreover, fatty acids formed do not contain any sulfur that can poison the downstream catalyst for conversion to fuels. Thus, the proposed process offers a significant innovation over the state of the art.