Zoekresultaten

Lupinus mutabilis for increased biomass from marginal lands and value for BIOrefineries

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Transition bioeconomy

Lupinus mutabilis for increased biomass from marginal lands and value for BIOrefineries

Conversion of a Xylose-rich Stream from Biomass-biorefining into Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) by Schlegelella thermodepolymerans

The transition to a biobased economy necessitates utilizing renewable resources as a sustainable alternative to traditional fossil fuels. Bioconversion is a way to produce many green chemicals from renewables, e.g., biopolymers like PHAs. However, fermentation and bioconversion processes mostly rely on expensive, and highly refined pure substrates. The utilization of crude fractions from biorefineries, especially herbaceous lignocellulosic feedstocks, could significantly reduce costs. This presentation shows the microbial production of PHA from such a crude stream by a wild-type thermophilic bacterium Schlegelella thermodepolymerans [1]. Specifically, it uses crude xylose-rich fractions derived from a newly developed biorefinery process for grassy biomasses (the ALACEN process). This new stepwise mild flow-through biorefinery approach for grassy lignocellulosic biomass allows the production of various fractions: a fraction containing esterified aromatics, a monomeric xylose-rich stream, a glucose fraction, and a native-like lignin residue [2]. The crude xylose-rich fraction was free of fermentation-inhibiting compounds meaning that the bacterium S.thermodepolymerans could effectively use it for the production of one type of PHA, polyhydroxybutyrate. Almost 90% of the xylose in the refined wheat straw fraction was metabolized with simultaneous production of PHA, matching 90% of the PHA production per gram of sugars, comparable to PHA yields from commercially available xylose. In addition to xylose, S. thermodepolymerans converted oligosaccharides with a xylose backbone (xylans) into fermentable xylose, and subsequently utilized the xylose as a source for PHA production. Since the xylose-rich hydrolysates from the ALACEN process also contain some oligomeric xylose and minor hemicellulose-derived sugars, optimal valorization of the C5-fractions derived from the refinery process can be obtained using S. thermodepolymerans. This opens the way for further exploration of PHA production from C5-fractions out of a variety of herbaceous lignocellulosic biomasses using the ALACEN process combined with S. thermodepolymerans. Overall, the innovative utilization of renewable resources in fermentation technology, as shown herein, makes a solid contribution to the transition to a biobased economy.[1] W. Zhou, D.I. Colpa, H. Permentier, R.A. Offringa, L. Rohrbach, G.J.W. Euverink, J. Krooneman. Insight into polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) production from xylose and extracellular PHA degradation by a thermophilic Schlegelella thermodepolymerans. Resources, Conservation and Recycling 194 (2023) 107006, ISSN 0921-3449, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2023.107006. [2] S. Bertran-Llorens, W.Zhou. M.A.Palazzo, D.I.Colpa, G.J.W.Euverink, J.Krooneman, P.J.Deuss. ALACEN: a holistic herbaceous biomass fractionation process attaining a xylose-rich stream for direct microbial conversion to bioplastics. Submitted 2023.

Development of supercritical fluid processes for the separation of components from Andean Lupin seeds

Inaugural lecture Sustainable Cooperative Entrepreneurship. The innovation army is marching!

A year later, in 2013, the Westerkwartier Area Cooperative was established – a new form of cooperation at the regional level, involving hundreds of dairy farmers, other SMEs, Terra MBO as the representative of the knowledge institutions in the region, the National Forest Service in the Netherlands (‘Staatsbosbeheer’), the Groningen Countryside Association (‘Landschapsbeheer Groningen’) and, later on, the De Zijlen healthcare institution. A year later, this initiative was followed by the establishment of the Southwest Drenthe Area Cooperative, another formalised multi-stakeholder cooperative on a large scale, bound together by a shared agenda. The members of these two new cooperatives sought to bring together and strengthen local and sectoral initiatives at the regional level. Because of their close cooperation with knowledge institutions, they hoped that practice-based research would yield a lot of results. At the many evening meetings and during workshops, spirited debates were held about new concepts such as bio-based economy, new concepts in food and health, alternative methods of energy production, but also ways of improving the quality of life in the region, strengthening the tourism industry and creating jobs for young people. Those involved were all too aware that the existing educational and research institutes and government agencies, and the organisational structures used by businesses, tend to do more harm than good, which led to the call for Next Education, Next Governance and Next Business. It became apparent from these discussions that there were many knowledge questions to be explored, and the need arose for a permanent link with the knowledge institutions through the establishment of a separate professorship focused on sustainable and cooperative entrepreneurship for the benefit of the entrepreneurs involved as well as for the education sector, the government and the general public. This is how the Sustainable Cooperative Entrepreneurship professorship came about, as part of the Sustainable Financial Management professorship chaired by Dr Margreet Boersma at Hanze University of Applied Sciences Groningen’s School of Financial and Economic Management. I am honoured to be giving this new professorship shape, and I would like to point out that I will not be doing this on my own – I am only the figurehead of a very substantial group of innovative and ambitious entrepreneurs, students, lecturers, public servants, citizens and colleagues. The Innovation Army is marching. And if you are not a part of it yet, now is the time to get involved!