Promoting Microbial Utilization of Phenolic Substrates from Bio-Oil

Davinia Salvachua Rodriguez, Gregg Beckham, Kirsten Davis, Marjorie Rover, Ryan Smith, Zhiyou Wen, Robert Brown, Laura Jarboe

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

16 Scopus Citations

Abstract

The economic viability of the biorefinery concept is limited by the valorization of lignin. One possible method of lignin valorization is biological upgrading with aromatic-catabolic microbes. In conjunction, lignin monomers can be produced by fast pyrolysis and fractionation. However, biological upgrading of these lignin monomers is limited by low water solubility. Here, we address the problem of low water solubility with an emulsifier blend containing approximately 70 wt% Tween® 20 and 30 wt% Span® 80. Pseudomonas putida KT2440 grew to an optical density (OD600) of 1.0 ± 0.2 when supplied with 1.6 wt% emulsified phenolic monomer-rich product produced by fast pyrolysis of red oak using an emulsifier dose of 0.076 ± 0.002 g emulsifier blend per g of phenolic monomer-rich product. This approach partially mitigated the toxicity of the model phenolic monomer p-coumarate to the microbe, but not benzoate or vanillin. This study provides a proof of concept that processing of biomass-derived phenolics to increase aqueous availability can enhance microbial utilization.

Original languageAmerican English
Pages (from-to)1531-1545
Number of pages15
JournalJournal of Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology
Volume46
Issue number11
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Nov 2019

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2019, Society for Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology.

NREL Publication Number

  • NREL/JA-5100-74319

Keywords

  • Bio-oil
  • Emulsion
  • Lignin
  • Phenols
  • Pseudomonas putida KT2440

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Promoting Microbial Utilization of Phenolic Substrates from Bio-Oil'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this