Grant: Strategic Projects - Group

The resource depletion and environmental impacts associated with fossil fuels necessitate the search for sustainable biofuels. Up to now, ethanol appears to be the only and most popular biofuel with justified applications though it still cannot economically compete with fossil fuels without government supplements. For most biofuels currently under active exploration (including ethanol, hydrogen, butanol, biodiesel, biogas, etc.), there are two major issues to be addressed. The first is reducing feedstock cost which often represents the major part of biofuel production, whereas the second is developing an effective conversion platform based on clean production technologies. Unfortunately, these two issues are often mutually intertwined and contradictory. Hence, a true solution to the development of practical biofuel products and technologies requires a more systematic approach which simultaneously addresses these two issues. The proposed research targets the development of novel microbial strains and bioprocessing strategies to produce clean, renewable, and sustainable biofuel (i.e. n-butanol) based on the conversion of cheap feedstock (i.e. glycerol and cellulose). Hence, it will significantly enhance Canada's fuel economy, air quality, and biomanufacturing capacity, leading to the improvement of the quality of life. We will play a pivotal role to ensure the success of the proposed project through seamless and synergistic integration of various biotechniques, including microbial biotechnology, molecular biology, biochemical and bioprocess engineering. The project provides a unique multidisciplinary training program connecting fundamental science and applied industrial technology and trainees involved in this project will be among the highly qualified people that are needed to develop Canada's biomanufacturing industry.