The increasing global demand for NZ wine has led to a steady increase in winery waste. We will develop a reliable anaerobic chain elongation bioprocess for valorising winery waste to create new income and avoid the adverse ecological impact of accumulated waste for the industry. Anaerobic chain elongation relies on anaerobic bacteria to convert simple organics (e.g., acetic acid) to medium-chain carboxylates. This technology can tap into various renewable resources that are non-competitive with human food production, representing an important platform for sustainably producing biofuels and chemicals. However, significant challenges exist in converting the recalcitrant lignocellulose components into substrates for anaerobic chain elongating bacteria, hindering the bioprocess efficiency.
This Part IV research aims to investigate the enzymatic and chemical methods to enhance the depolymerisation of lignocellulose components in winery waste. A suite of enzymes and chemicals will be tested for their reactivities with lignin, hemicellulose, and cellulose. The optimal reaction conditions will be identified through batch experiments. The results of this research will boost the performance of bioprocessing that uses renewable biomass feedstock to replace fossil fuels for chemical production.
Undergraduate
None
No lab has been assigned to this project