Cell free production of a liquid fuel

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Authors
Grimaldi, Joseph
Issue Date
2014-12
Type
Electronic thesis
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Language
ENG
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Chemical engineering
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Abstract
Limitations on biofuel production using cell culture (Escherichia coli, Clostridium, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, brown microalgae, blue-green algae and others) include low product (alcohol) concentrations (2-5 vol%) due to feedback inhibition, instability of cells, and lack of economical product recovery processes. To overcome these challenges, we propose an alternate simplified biofuel production scheme based on a cell-free immobilized enzyme system. Optimized immobilized enzymes can be more stable and productive than free enzyme in solution. We measured the activity of two multi-domain enzymes, alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) and keto-acid decarboxylase (KdcA), after immobilization onto multiple surface curvatures and chemistries. β-galactosidase was used as a model enzyme, with a colorimetric assay, to help develop an immobilization strategy. Several solid supports including silica nanoparticles (convex), mesopourous silica (concave), carbon diatoms (concave), and methacrylate (concave) were tested as a function of external/internal porosities.
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December 2014
School of Engineering
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Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY
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