Polymethylmethacrylate (pMMA) is a transparent polymer, most familiar in the form of Perspex, used to make screens for phones, computers and TVs. pMMA is non-toxic, so it is used in contact lenses, medicine and dentistry. It is also used to manufacture parts for cars and aircraft, bathroom/kitchen units and fittings, and in paints and resins. Like all plastics, pMMA is made from oil-derived feedstocks. We have developed a lab-scale, bio-based route to manufacture the monomer for pMMA, methylmethacryalate (MMA). The new process uses renewable sugars instead of oil, and will generate about one fifth of the CO2 emissions compared with petrochemical MMA. To do this, we engineered bacteria to produce the enzymes needed to convert sugars to a derivative of MMA. This synthetic chemical is not usually formed by enzymes, so the artificial metabolic pathway was developed using directed evolution and synthetic biology. The product can be separated easily from the fermentation, and we developed a simple, sustainable chemical process to convert it to MMA. In this project, we will integrate synthetic biology, fermentation technology and chemical process development to take this process from lab scale experiments to a pilot scale manufacturing process.
A global challenge is to improve the way in which mankind improves the consumption and disposal of
commodity plastics. Alternative strategies to permit production of chemically identical “like-for-like”
materials from sustainable biobased feedstocks as alternatives to existing petrochemical sources is
required to help met the improve consumption and disposal of plastics. This application to Innovate UK
is seeking to develop highly efficient routes to prepare polymethacrylates (i.e. Perspex) from non-fossil
carbon based feedstocks. The project partners will build bespoke bacteria using state of the art synthetic
biology methods to enable production of methacrylate intermediates. We shall recover and test the
intermediates for their practical suitability in preparing and forming the plastics that Lucite sells to its
existing customers.
There is large global demand for acetone for use as a solvent and in production of important chemicals and materials including transparent plastics such as methyl methacrylate (MMA). Acetone is currently produced by reacting petro-chemicals propylene and benzene, hence its price is volatile and the process is unsustainable. GBL are experts in clostridial (non-pathogenic) fermentation for production of the solvent n-butanol, which generates some acetone as a co-product. We (GBL and MMA-producer Lucite) undertook an InnovateUK business study to investigate potential for a process making solely acetone, and determined that this would be economically and technologically feasible. We want to use our expertise in clostridial biology to develop a strain of clostridia having high yield of acetone, necessary for the commercial process. Lucite will explore matters relating to use of bio-acetone for bio-MMA production.
Ingenza and the University of Nottingham will engineer microorganisms for the utilisation of xylose and its conversion to products of interest by fermentation. We will exemplify the approach by converting xylose to a key intermediate required by Lucite International for the manufacture of monomers using sustainable bioprocessing. Use of xylose, derived from waste ligoncellulosic biomass, allows the production of chemicals by fermentation using sustainable raw materials whihch in no way compete with sugars produced for food use.
The key challenge in this project is to demonstrate a fermentation process to produce biobutanol that can compete on price and quality with the incumbent petrochemical equivalent. Not only do we want to compete economically, we also want to demonstrate technology that can be deployed in the EU and Noth America using cellulosic feedstocks that are readily available (sustainable) and do not impact on food supply. The resulting biobutanol will have significant environmental and resource benefits . We aim to do this by integrating advanced, proven and innovative process technology to convert cellulosic feedstocks to sugar and then fermenting the sugar to biobutanol using technology developed by Borregaard and Green Biologics Ltd., respectively. Lucite will validate biobutanol for a chemical applications. The deliverables include a demonstration at pilot scale of the technical feasibility, modelling to determine the economic feasibility at commercial scale and full product life cycle assessment of primary energy savings and greenhouse gas emissions reductions.
In this project, the partners (GBL and Lucite) will determine the technical feasibility of engineering Clostridia to produce bioacetone in high yield (as opposed to biobutanol) using fermentation. The partners will also determine the economic feasibility and commercial viability of producing acetone as the sole fermentation product. It is envisaged that any loss in yield will be compensated for by savings in purification (acetone is highly volatile and relatively easy to recover from the fermentation broth).
Ingenza, Lucite and the University of Cambridge will apply innovative genome-scale flux balance analysis to rationally redesign the biochemistry of this organism to synthesise a high value polymer intermediate. Lucite, a UK based global leader in acrylic polymer manufacture will provide expert downstream chemistry, engineering and the route to market for the resulting bioprocess, replacing petrochemical derived feedstocks. Model-driven synthetic biology will overcome limitations of more random, iterative approaches, providing a new manufacturing platform, in an industrially compatible timeframe. Combinatorial genetics will construct the engineered microbes and plant design modelling by the end user will assess manufacturing options. Thus, the project combines bioinformatics, molecular biology and engineering to produce a suitable, safe and sustainable bioroute to one of the world’s most important and valuable industrial products.
In this project Ingenza, a World-leading Synthetic Biology company, and Lucite International, the global leader in Acrylics, will develop processes for the manufacture of monomer intermediates built around an Industrial Biotechnology platform. Ingenza will use it's state-of-the-art portfolio of Synthetic Biology tools to produce microbes capable of producing the chemicals by fermentation. Lucite will focus on the conversion of the intermediates to monomers and polymers for the manufacture of acrylate polymers. The project will further develop Ingenza's Synthetic Biology toolkit and allow Lucite to replace current petrochemical routes to monomers with new sustainable manufacturing processes.