Farmers harvest Chinese cabbages, or “baechu” in Korean, at a field in Haenam, South Jeolla Province, on Nov. 6, 2020, as the season arrives for “gimjang,” or kimchi-making. (Yonhap)
DAEJEON, Oct. 15 (Korea Bizwire) — The Korea Institute of Energy Research said on Thursday that its research team had developed a new enzymatic process that can produce bio fuels and plastics using agricultural waste.
The newly-developed enzymatic process can produce 4-hydroxy valeric acid, an intermediate ingredient for bio fuels and bio plastics, using non-edible agricultural waste biomass such as rice straw and cornstalk.
This material cannot be gained directly from the biomass. Instead, it should go through the process of oxidizing the biomass to gain levulinic acid and then hydrogenating it. In the natural world, there is no enzyme that can hydrogenate levulinic acid.
After modifying the ternary molecule structure of the enzyme that can hydrogenate acetoacetic acid with a similar structure to levulinic acid, the research team designed it to be able to hydrogenate levulinic acid.
The newly developed enzyme features lower reaction temperature and energy requirements compared to exiting ruthenium-based chemical catalysts.
Without the need to supply high pressure hydrogen from external sources, the hydrogen needed for the reaction is generated through the formic acid that is gained as a byproduct of levulinic acid.
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
