Institute of Bioinformatics and Biotechnology, Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune, 411007, India.
NCIM Resource Center, CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory, Dr. Homi Bhabha Road, Pune, 411008, India.
Appl Microbiol Biotechnol. 2019 Dec;103(23-24):9305-9320. doi: 10.1007/s00253-019-10212-7. Epub 2019 Nov 9.
Lignocellulosic biomass (LCB) is globally available and sustainable feedstock containing sugar-rich platform that can be converted to biofuels and specialty products through appropriate processing. This review focuses on the efforts required for the development of sustainable and economically viable lignocellulosic biorefinery to produce carbon neutral biofuels along with the specialty chemicals. Sustainable biomass processing is a global challenge that requires the fulfillment of fundamental demands concerning economic efficiency, environmental compatibility, and social responsibility. The key technical challenges in continuous biomass supply and the biological routes for its saccharification with high yields of sugar sources have not been addressed in research programs dealing with biomass processing. Though many R&D endeavors have directed towards biomass valorization over several decades, the integrated production of biofuels and chemicals still needs optimization from both technical and economical perspectives. None of the current pretreatment methods has advantages over others since their outcomes depend on the type of feedstock, downstream process configuration, and many other factors. Consolidated bio-processing (CBP) involves the use of single or consortium of microbes to deconstruct biomass without pretreatment. The use of new genetic engineering tools for natively cellulolytic microbes would make the CBP process low cost and ecologically friendly. Issues arising with chemical characteristics and rigidity of the biomass structure can be a setback for its viability for biofuel conversion. Integration of functional genomics and system biology with synthetic biology and metabolic engineering undoubtedly led to generation of efficient microbial systems, albeit with limited commercial potential. These efficient microbial systems with new metabolic routes can be exploited for production of commodity chemicals from all the three components of biomass. This paper provides an overview of the challenges that are faced by the processes converting LCB to commodity chemicals with special reference to biofuels.
木质纤维素生物质（LCB）是全球可获得的可持续原料，其中含有富含糖分的平台，可通过适当的加工转化为生物燃料和特种产品。本文重点介绍了开发可持续和经济可行的木质纤维素生物炼制厂的努力，以生产碳中和生物燃料和特种化学品。可持续生物质加工是一个全球性挑战，需要满足经济效益、环境兼容性和社会责任等基本要求。在涉及生物质加工的研究计划中，尚未解决连续生物质供应的关键技术挑战以及生物糖化的生物学途径，以实现高糖源产量。尽管几十年来，许多研发工作都致力于生物质增值，但从技术和经济角度来看，生物燃料和化学品的综合生产仍需要优化。目前没有一种预处理方法具有优势，因为它们的结果取决于原料类型、下游工艺配置和许多其他因素。综合生物加工（CBP）涉及使用单一或微生物联合体来解构生物质，而无需预处理。新型遗传工程工具在天然纤维素分解微生物中的应用将使 CBP 工艺具有低成本和生态友好性。生物质化学特性和结构刚性带来的问题可能会对其生物燃料转化的可行性造成阻碍。功能基因组学和系统生物学与合成生物学和代谢工程的结合无疑会带来高效微生物系统的产生，尽管其商业潜力有限。这些具有新代谢途径的高效微生物系统可用于从生物质的所有三个组成部分生产商品化学品。本文概述了将 LCB 转化为商品化学品的过程中面临的挑战，特别提到了生物燃料。
