No Carbon Left Behind: A New Paradigm in the Conversion of Biomass to Biofuels and High-Value Products
Prof. Nick Carpita
Professor of Botany and Plant Pathology
Bindley Biosciences Center, Purdue University
Cellulose, xylan and lignin are the principal macromolecules of lignocellulosic biomass in bioenergy crops such as grasses and fast-growing trees. Optimization of biomass yield and quality is predicated on the ability to capture partially reduced carbon from these macromolecular structures into biofuels and high-value chemicals. Our interdisciplinary team has developed chemical catalytic technologies for the disassembly of these macromolecules to monomers for subsequent transformations in the case of lignin and xylan, and new understandings of the mechanisms of fast-pyrolysis to produce oligomeric glucosans in the fuel range from cellulose. Genetic redesign of the lignin network simplifies its architecture to enable facile catalytic disassembly and conversion of aromatics. Our successes also include non-enzymatic removal of xylan from intact biomass and conversion to tetrahydrofuran; a genetically engineered pathway to increase catalytic iron in cell walls; and a new mechanism for pyrolytic conversion of cellulose to levoglucosan. Our vision is to optimize carbon and energy efficiencies of biomass conversion to liquid hydrocarbon fuels by the rescue, chemical reduction, and value added to all biomass-derived carbon – no carbon left behind.
Biographical Information
Dr. Carpita holds a B. Sc. Biological Sciences degree from Purdue University and a Ph.D. degree, Plant Physiology, from Colorado State University. He is a fellow of the Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. His plant cell biology expertise focuses on the structure and biosynthesis of the plant cell wall, gene discovery in cell wall biology, and the improvement of grasses and related species as lignocellulosic bioenergy crops. He works primarily on mechanisms of biosynthesis and membrane topology of cellulose. He applies advanced biochemical methods to characterize cell-wall biogenesis-related genes and has pioneered chemical methods to identify genes in sorghum and maize that contribute to production and control of biomass yield and quality. He is recognized for his discovery of naturally occurring small-interfering RNAs of cellulose synthases that function in the regulation of suites of genes involved in primary and secondary wall formation.