Kobe	  University	  Global-­‐Link	  Forum	  in	  Bangkok	  International	  Academic	  Symposium-­‐Towards	  Sustainable	  Development	  of	  Our	  Societies-­‐	  Sunday	  23rd	  January,	  2011	  	  	  	  Lecture	  IV	  Production	  of	  Bio-­‐fuels	  and	  Chemicals	  from	  Biomass	  	  Abstract	  Akihiko	  KONDO	  Professor	  Department	  of	  Chemical	  Science	  and	  Engineering	  	  Kobe	  University	  Renewable	   lignocellulosic	   biomass,	   such	   as	   agricultural	   and	   forestry	   residues,	   waste	   paper	  and	   industrial	   waste,	   is	   an	   attractive	   feedstock	   for	   bioethanol	   production.	   Lignocellulose,	  which	   is	   composed	   of	   cellulose,	   hemicellulose	   and	   lignin,	   is	   often	   hydrolyzed	   by	  pretreatment	   and	   successive	   enzymatic	   breakdown.	   Then,	   hydrolyzed	   mixed	   sugar	   is	  converted	   to	   bioethanol	   or	   other	   compounds	   by	   genetically	   engineered	   bacteria	   or	   yeast.	  
However,	   since	   such	   lignocellulose	   hydrolysate	   contains	   not	   only	   glucose,	   but	   also	   various	  monosaccharides,	  such	  as	  xylose,	  mannose,	  galactose	  and	  arabinose,	  and	  oligosaccharides,	  microorganisms	   should	   be	   required	   to	   efficiently	   ferment	   these	   sugars	   for	   the	   successful	  industrial	  production	  of	  bioethanol.	  
Recent	   research	   and	   development	   has	   reduced	   dramatically	   the	   production	   cost	   of	   enzymes	  for	  hydrolysis	  of	  lignocellulose.	  In	  addition,	  fermentation	  strains	  to	  convert	  mixed	  sugar	  to	  bioethanol	   have	   been	   improved.	   Using	   these	   enzymes	   and	   strains,	   simultaneous	  saccharification	   and	   fermentation	   (SSF)	   system,	   in	   which	   hydrolysis	   of	   lignocellulose	   and	  fermentation	   of	   resulting	   mixed	   sugar	   are	   combined	   in	   one	   step,	   has	   been	   developed.	   To	  further	   reduce	   the	   cost	   of	   bioethanol	   production,	   the	   development	   of	   super-­‐	   microbial	  strains,	  which	  produce	  hydrolysis	  enzymes	  and	  ferment	  resulting	  mixed	  sugars,	  could	  enable	  combine	   enzyme	   production,	   enzyme	   hydrolysis	   and	   fermentation	   into	   one	   step.	   That	   is,	  super-­‐microbial	   strains	   could	   directly	   convert	   cellulosic	   and	   himicellulosic	   sugars	   into	  bioethanol.	  This	  approach	  is	  called	  consolidated	  bioprocessing	  (CBP).	  	  Among	   ethanol-­‐producing	   microbial	   strains,	   yeast	   Saccharomyces	   cerevisiae,	   has	   several	  advantages	  owing	  to	  its	  high	  ethanol	  production	  from	  hexoses	  and	  high	  tolerance	  to	  ethanol	  and	   other	   inhibitory	   compounds	   in	   the	   hydrolysates	   of	   lignocellulosic	   biomass.	   We	   have	  developed	   the	   super	   yeast	   S.	   cerevisiae	   strain	   for	   CBP.	   The	   cell	   surface	   engineering	   is	   one	   of	  the	   key	   technologies	   for	   development	   of	   CBP	   yeast,	   because	   the	   diffusion	   problem	   of	  substrate	  and	  product	  is	  circumvented.	  In	  addition,	  the	  displayed	  enzymes	  are	  regarded	  as	  a	  kind	  of	  self-­‐immobilized	  enzyme	  on	  the	  cell	  surfaces.	  	  1	  	  Kobe	  University	  Global-­‐Link	  Forum	  in	  Bangkok	  International	  Academic	  Symposium-­‐Towards	  Sustainable	  Development	  of	  Our	  Societies-­‐	  Sunday	  23rd	  January,	  2011	  	  	  In	  this	  study,	  the	  bioethanol	  production	  from	  cellulosic	  materials	  was	  investigated	  by	  using	  yeast	   cells	   displaying	   cellulolytic	   enzymes.	   Due	   to	   the	   display	   of	   these	   enzymes,	   cellulosic	  materials	   were	   sequentially	   hydrolyzed	   to	   glucose	   on	   the	   yeast	   cell	   surface,	   immediately	  utilized	   and	   converted	   to	   ethanol	   by	   intracellular	   enzymes.	   The	   yield	   in	   terms	   of	   grams	   of	  ethanol	  produced	  per	  grams	  of	  carbohydrate	  utilized	  was	  over	  0.45,	  which	  corresponds	  to	  over	   89%	   of	   theoretical	   yield.	   Therefore,	   a	   combination	   of	   cell	   surface	   displayed	   enzymes	  and	  intracellular	  metabolic	  system	  is	  a	  very	  effective	  approach	  to	  develop	  CBP	  yeast	  cells.	  	  Short	  Biography	  Akihiko	  KONDO	  is	  currently	  Professor,	  Director	  of	  Biorefinery	  center.	  His	  research	  interests	  include	   development	   of	   novel	   cell	   surface	   display	   systems	   and	   their	   applications,	  combinatorial	   bioengineering,	   development	   of	   novel	   drag	   and	   gene	   delivery	   systems,	  application	   of	   nanomaterials	   to	   biomedical	   fields,	   development	   of	   intelligent	   bioreactors,	  and	   production	   of	   biofuels	   and	   chemicals	   from	   biomass	   for	   sustainable	   society.	   He	   is	   the	  member	   of	   The	   Society	   of	   Chemical	   Engineers,	   Japan,	   The	   Chemical	   Society	   of	   Japan,	   The	  Society	   for	   Biotechnology,	   Japan,	   Japanese	   Society	   for	   Bioscience,	   Biotechnology	   and	  Agrochemistry,	  JBA,	  Bioengineering	  Division.	  	  He	  received	  his	  PhD	  in	  Chemical	  Engineering,	  Kyoto	  University,	  Kyoto,	  Japan	  1983.	  He	  was	  promoted	  as	  a	  full	  professor	  at	  Kobe	  University	  from	  2003.	  	  Dr.	  Akihiko	  Kondo	  Professor	  Department	  of	  Chemical	  Science	  and	  Engineering,	  Kobe	  University	  	  1-­‐1	  Rokkodaicho,	  Nada,	  Kobe,	  JAPAN	  Email:	  	  akondo@kobe-­‐u.ac.jp	  Tel&Fax:	  	  +81-­‐78-­‐803-­‐6196	  2