The chemical and pharmaceutical industries are currently reliant on petrochemical derived intermediates for the synthesis of a wide range of valuable products. Decreasing petrochemical reserves and concerns over costs and greenhouse gas emissions are now driving the search for renewable sources of organic synthons. This project aims to establish a range of new technologies to enable the synthesis of a range of chemicals from sugar beet pulp (SBP) in a cost-effective and sustainable manner. The UK is self-sufficient in the production of SBP which is a by-product of sugar beet production (8 million tonnes grown per year) and processing. Currently SBP is dried in an energy intensive process and then used for animal feed. The ability to convert SBP into chemicals and pharmaceutical intermediates will therefore have significant economic and environmental benefits. SBP is a complex feedstock rich in carbohydrate (nearly 80% by weight). The carbohydrate is made up of roughly equal proportions of 3 biological polymers; cellulose, hemicellulose and pectin. If the processing of SBP is to be cost-effective it will be necessary to find uses for each of these substances. Here we propose a biorefinery approach for the selective breakdown of all 3 polymers, purification of the breakdown compounds and their use to synthesise a range of added value products such as speciality chemicals, pharmaceuticals and biodegradable polymers. It is already well known that cellulose can be broken down into hexose sugars and fermented to ethanol for use in biofuels. Here we will focus on the release of galacturonic acid (from pectin) and arabinose (from hemicellulose) and their conversion, by chemical or enzymatic means, into added value products. We will also exploit the new principles of Synthetic Biology to explore the feasibility of metabolically engineering microbial cells to simultaneously breakdown the polymeric feed material and synthesise a desired product, such as aromatic compounds, in a single integrated process. In conducting this research we will adopt a holistic, systems-led, approach to biorefinery design and operation. Computer-based modelling tools will be used to assess the efficiency of raw material, water and energy utilisation. Economic and Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) approaches will then be employed to identify the most cost-effective and environmentally benign product and process combinations. The project is supported by a range of industrial partners from raw material producer to intermediate technology providers and end-user chemical and pharmaceutical companies. This is crucial in providing business and socio-economic insights regarding the adoption of renewable resources into their current product portfolios. The company partners will also provide the material and equipment resources for the large-scale verification of project outcomes and their ultimate transition into commercial manufacture.

Managing the water, energy and food requirements of a constantly-rising world population, in the context of climate change, is a key global challenge. Significant growth in proven and predicted fossil fuel reserves mean that achieving the Paris COP21 target for a 1.5 degree Celsius increase in mean global temperature relative to the pre-industrial level is at risk if we remain dependent upon these reserves. Biomass derived from agricultural and forestry residues is a low carbon feedstock for transportation fuels and organic chemicals. Integrating conversion processes so that biofuels, chemicals and energy are co-produced maximises the economic viability of waste biomass utilisation; an approach analogous to current petroleum refineries that deliver high volume/low value (fuels and commodity chemicals) and low volume/high value (fine/speciality chemicals) products in tandem. The potential for agricultural waste as a feedstock for low carbon fuels and chemicals is vast, even allowing for sustainable land management practices. In the EU alone, 16% of road transport fuel could be produced from waste by 2030 which would deliver green-house gas savings of greater than 60%. In Asia rice is the single most important crop, annually yielding >250 million tonnes of waste rice residues. Current practices of "at-site" burning of these waste residues in developing nations have serious detrimental effects on the environment and human health; improved waste management is therefore essential. To employ rice residues as sustainable feedstocks for transportation fuels and organic chemicals requires improved processes for their pre-treatment and conversion. This project proposes to develop an alternative, environmentally-benign process to utilise waste rice residues for the production of fuels and bio-derived agrochemicals, which will impact on renewable energy, climate change and environmental pollution by seeking to transform a plentiful waste resource into (1) an economically-viable, sustainable energy source for transportation fuels; and (2) a sustainable feedstock for the production of organic chemicals, while mitigating emissions of carbon dioxide and atmospheric particulates from "at-site" burning. We will exploit recently-established demonstrator plant facilities at ICT-Mumbai in India (ICTM) which offer cost-effective waste rice residue fractionation into lignin and cellulose, with a focus on bioethanol production. Our aim is to develop underpinning science to offer a wider range of high-value products from lignin, sugars and other extracted components thereby future-proofing the process to combat the fragile economics of bioethanol production. We propose an innovative and flexible conversion platform building on current expertise of the UK partners. A multidisciplinary team with expertise in plant cell wall deconstruction and simultaneous saccharification (Institute of Food Research; IFR), green extraction methods (The VN-UK Institute, University of DaNang), enzyme expression, tandem bio- and chemo-catalytic conversion technologies (Aston), bio-chemo routes to depolymerising lignin (Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Min City), process engineering and catalysis (Ha Noi University of Science & Technology) and photocatalytic water depollution (Aston and The Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology) will tackle the challenge of value-added product production while also ensuring sustainable water management practices are adopted. Enhanced research capacity in the Indian and Vietnamese institutes will be facilitated by interdisciplinary researcher training exchange visits to the partner research institutes at Aston and IFR, building a platform for sustainable agricultural waste management.