Industrial waste contains a substantial amount of heterogeneous organic carbon that can be valorized into high-value chemicals and biomaterials. Generally, those waste is used to produce heat, fertilizer, or fuel (i.e., ethanol). Substantial opportunities are available to valorize the carbon into high-value chemicals via synthetic microbes that can be used to produce advanced materials. We will present the latest progress of engineering microbial metabolic pathways to enable valorization of waste organic substances through the biofunneling approach to performance-advantaged chemicals. For instance, the microbial pathways and metabolic engineering strategies can be leveraged to biofunnel the waste carbon efficiently into the targeted platform chemicals such as lactic, succinate, muconate, and biopolymers, including polyhydroxyalketone, and bacterial cellulose. The obtained platform chemicals can be used to produce biodegradable polymers such as polybutylene adipate terephthalate (PBAT) that could replace incumbent polyethylene and polypropylene food packaging materials. Further, nanomaterial and active molecules can be added to the PBAT and other biodegradable polymers to make the active/smart food packaging materials. The green process can remarkably lower the greenhouse gas emission and energy use to produce food-packaging material via industrial waste carbon relative to the petroleum-based production.

Microbial valorization of industrial organic waste to biodegradable smart food packaging materials

Where thousands of chemistry professionals meet to share ideas and advance scientific and technical knowledge. Spring 2023 abstracts, posters, and presentations will launch at the end of March.

ACS Spring 2023

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.