Development of biorefinery based on rice straw Utveckling av bioraffinaderi baserad på rishalm Mankind has become highly dependent on fossil resources for its need for energy and materials used in everyday life. With increasing demands of the growing human population, especially in developing economies, there is a strong concern that fossil resources will sooner or later come to an end. This has led to a global interest in finding alternative sources that are renewable and easily accessible in the region of interest. The other problem that motivates a shift from fossil resources is the negative environmental impact of the products in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, global warming and climate change. Fossil energy and -plastics are among the most environmentally damaging products used in enormous amounts. Large amounts of plastic wastes are collected in the landfills and oceans, creating a major threat to the land and marine ecosystems. During the past couple of decades, there has been increasing development towards the use of plant biomass as feedstock for biofuels, biomaterials and other products. The first generation of biofuels is currently produced from agricultural crops - ethanol from sugar cane or corn, and biodiesel from soybean, rapeseed or palm oil depending on the geographical location. These biofuels meet only a small fraction of the global fuel demand and are highly subsidized. They have furthermore raised some critical social and ecological issues - they compete with food for the feedstock and the land used for growing the crop. Diverting the crops for biofuel production is seen as an important factor underlying the drastic increase in food costs during 2008. For future production of bioenergy, a holistic approach needs to be taken so that both food and bioenergy are produced in a sustainable manner especially in developing countries where production of crops suffers from prevalent poor soil conditions and insufficient availability of water. Biofuel production needs further to be combined with the production of other valuable materials in a biorefinery so as to make the operation economical. The ideal feedstock for biofuels is considered to be the agricultural- and forestry by-products and wastes accumulated in abundance and with low or no profit and -nutritional value. Rice straw, wheat straw, bagasse and corn stover are the major farm residues generated in developing countries. Rice is a staple diet for a large part of the global population in a number of countries. Over 700 million tonnes of rice straw is produced worldwide, mostly in Asia and while some straw is used as animal feed, much of it is currently burned in the fields leading to environmental pollution. Production of valuable compounds will add value to this enormous resource providing extra income to the farmers and at the same time reducing the environmental burden. This project proposal is to apply for funds for collaborative exchange between universities in Sweden, Malaysia and Viet Nam, with an aim is to develop a biorefinery around rice straw. The products within the scope of the project are biogas as an energy carrier and biodegradable plastics that can replace the petroleum based plastics. Industrial biotechnology, based on microorganisms and their enzymes, will be used for sustainable conversion of the rice straw to these products. Enzymatic tools will be developed and used for mild and selective hydrolysis of lignocellulosic straw material. Production of bioplastics will be investigated using the bacteria isolated from mangroves in Vietnam. Furthermore, anaerobic digestion of the straw will be optimized for production of biogas, which can potentially be used for heating purposes for the local communities or may be cleaned and compressed for use as biofuel. Biogas has a higher energy value than bioethanol, and hence a better biofuel. The Swedish group at Lund University has expertise in organisms from extreme environments and enzyme development and engineering for biomass conversion, and biogas production. Universiti Sains Malaysia There is a global interest to reduce our dependence on mineral oil owing to the risk of depletion of fossil resources for meeting the demands of the growing human population for energy, chemicals and materials, and also due to the environmental pollution associated with fossil products. Although agricultural crops are being used for the production of biofuels since some years, it has led to a strong concern for competition with food production. To make the production of non-food products sustainable and economical, use can be made of agriculture- and forestry residues and wastes as feedstocks for production of biofuels along with other valuable chemicals or materials. The proposal concerns a collaborative project between University of Lund, Sweden, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia, and Hanoi National University of Education in Vietnam, to develop a biorefinery based on rice straw, which is produced in enormous quantities in many parts of the world, especially Asia, and is burnt leading to environmental pollution. In this project, methods for hydrolyzing the cellulose component of rice will be developed and the released glucose will be converted to biopolyester using bacteria from mangroves. The fermentation residues will be converted to biogas as energy carrier. The biopolyester will also be blended with hemicellulose fraction to form composites. The project will involve exchange of scientists and students, and seminars and workshops in Malaysia and Vietnam.