Scientists convert plant matter into chemicals

San Francisco : A team led by an Indian-origin scientist from Sandia National Laboratories in California has demonstrated a new technology based on bio-engineered bacteria that can make it economically feasible to produce chemicals from renewable plant sources.

The technology converts tough plant matter, called lignin, for wider use of the energy source and making it cost competitive. "For years, we have been researching cost-effective ways to break down lignin and convert it into valuable platform chemicals," Sandia bioengineer Seema Singh said.

"We applied our understanding of natural lignin degraders to E. coli because that bacterium grows fast and can survive harsh industrial processes," she added in the work published in the "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America".

Lignin is the component of plant cell walls that gives them their incredible strength. It is brimming with energy but getting to that energy is so costly and complex that the resulting biofuel can't compete economically with other forms of transportation energy. Once broken down, lignin has other gifts to give in the form of valuable platform chemicals that can be converted into nylon, plastics, pharmaceuticals and other valuable products.

Singh and her team have solved three problems with turning lignin into platform chemicals: cost, toxicity and speed. Engineering solutions like these, which overcome toxicity and efficiency issues have the potential to make biofuel production economically viable.

"Now we can work on producing greater quantities of platform chemicals, engineering pathways to new end products, and considering microbial hosts other than E. coli," Singh said.