Reference number : GC-2017-Q2-00112, amendment number : , agreement type : G, recipient legal name : Friscic, Tomislav (McGill University)|Friscic, Tomislav (Université McGill), recipient country : CA, recipient province : nan, recipient city : Quebec|Québec, recipient postal code : nan, program name english : Idea to Innovation, program name french : De l'idée à l'innovation, program purpose english : The proposed research is developing a novel, patent-pending process for the direct transformation of cellulose and lignocellulosic materials directly into glucose or simple oligosaccharides without using any solvents, additives, acids or bases. This process is based on unprecedented discovery that cellulose enzymes can achieve hydrolytic cleavage of cellulose in the solid state, without any solvent or reagents added, through brief mechanical activation. This process, delineated in the recently filed provisional patent application "Enzymatic Saccharification of a Polysaccharide" (US 62/465,443) opens not only a completely new area in context of enzymatic catalysis, but also an unexpected, clean route for breakdown of highly recalcitrant biopolymers. By unprecedented use of enzyme catalysis in the solid state, this process avoids the limitations of poor solubility of cellulose, a stumbling block in conventional solvent-based technologies for converting cellulose into smaller molecules useful as biofuels or replacements of petrochemicals. The herein developed technology can lead to major advances in generating biofuels and commodity chemicals from biomass, thus accelerating the phasing out of environmentally-challenging fossil fuels and petrochemicals. In order to augment the commercial and industrial potential of this patent-pending process, the proposed research is aimed towards optimizing cellulose conversion to quantitative level, followed by expansion to real biomass samples and scaling to kilogram scale. These developments should make this novel and exciting process highly attractive for establishing industrial partners and subsequent commercialization._x000D_, program purpose french : The proposed research is developing a novel, patent-pending process for the direct transformation of cellulose and lignocellulosic materials directly into glucose or simple oligosaccharides without using any solvents, additives, acids or bases. This process is based on unprecedented discovery that cellulose enzymes can achieve hydrolytic cleavage of cellulose in the solid state, without any solvent or reagents added, through brief mechanical activation. This process, delineated in the recently filed provisional patent application "Enzymatic Saccharification of a Polysaccharide" (US 62/465,443) opens not only a completely new area in context of enzymatic catalysis, but also an unexpected, clean route for breakdown of highly recalcitrant biopolymers. By unprecedented use of enzyme catalysis in the solid state, this process avoids the limitations of poor solubility of cellulose, a stumbling block in conventional solvent-based technologies for converting cellulose into smaller molecules useful as biofuels or replacements of petrochemicals. The herein developed technology can lead to major advances in generating biofuels and commodity chemicals from biomass, thus accelerating the phasing out of environmentally-challenging fossil fuels and petrochemicals. In order to augment the commercial and industrial potential of this patent-pending process, the proposed research is aimed towards optimizing cellulose conversion to quantitative level, followed by expansion to real biomass samples and scaling to kilogram scale. These developments should make this novel and exciting process highly attractive for establishing industrial partners and subsequent commercialization._x000D_, agreement title english : Solvent-free mechanochemical and enzymatic breakdown of cellulose, agreement title french : Solvent-free mechanochemical and enzymatic breakdown of cellulose, agreement number : I2IPJ, agreement value : 122403.0, agreement start date : 2017-07-12, agreement end date : nan, description english : nan, description french : nan, expected results english : nan, expected results french : nan, additional information english : Grant or Award spanning more than one fiscal year (2017-2018 to 2018-2019)., additional information french : Subvention ou bourse octroyée s'appliquant à plus d'un exercice financier (2017-2018 à 2018-2019)., owner organization : nserc-crsng, owner organization title : Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada | Conseil de recherches en sciences naturelles et en génie du Canada