Biomass to Bio-oils with Yarrowia lipolytica

Thousands of high value biochemicals have been produced via fermentation using engineered and natural microorganisms. In most cases these technologies have been developed using refined sugars as carbon feedstocks. An outstanding challenge in biotechnology is to develop microorganisms and fermentation methods that can produce valuable products from low value agricultural residues, thereby improving process economics and avoiding resource competition with food supply chains.

This project sits at the intersection of bioprocess engineering and microbial metabolic engineering. Using the oleaginous yeast Yarrowia lipolytica, we aim to convert all fermentable carbohydrates from sugar cane bagasse into bio-oils, reducing the cost of goods for these bioproducts. This requires new biomass pre-treatment methods to produce fermentation-friendly feedstocks at minimal cost, and microbial strain engineering to maximise conversion of these feedstocks into bio-oils.

Chief Investigators

• Dr James Behrendorff
  

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• Professor Zhanying Zhang
  

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• Professor Ian O'Hara
  

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Project team

• Mr Francisco Peralta (QUT)
• Adjunct Professor Robert Speight (QUT, CSIRO)
• Dr Laura Navone (QUT, Eden Brew)
• Dr Tom Loan (CSIRO)

Project partners

• Joint Research Centre for Biofuels and Biorefining (QUT)
• CSIRO Advanced Engineering Biology Future Science Platform

Project funding

• Australia-China Science and Research Fund
• CSIRO Advanced Engineering Biology Future Science Platform Top-up Scholarship