All you need is trees…..

Claus Felby

Faculty of Science

University of Copenhagen

What’s it all about

• We must cut our greenhouse gas emissions by 50-80% in 2050

• Forestry and agriculture are the single largest tools for atmospheric CO2 manipulations

• Our technology and economy is carbon driven

• Currently bioenergy is our single largest renewable energy source

• But can we make all the carbon ”stuff” we need just from biomass?

Forestry and agriculture converts solar

energy, water and CO2 to biomass

Every 12 years all the carbon in the atmosphere passes through a tree

Energy density; 850 kg battery in Tesla S vs. 2 bags of wood pellets

Wood to renewable carbon covers a lot of ground

WoodPropertiesBiochemistryBiophysicsAnatomy

WoodProduction & breedingAgricultural ScienceForestryMolecular biology

WoodConversionEngineeringBiotechnology

SustainabilityForestry & agricultural practiceCarbon cyclesSocial issuesFood, feed & fuels

A timeline of major industrial wood products

Wood tar

Pot ash

Timber

Vinegar

Pulp &paper

Acetone,butanol

Acid hydrolysisethanol

Cellulosicethanol

C5 Ferm.

PLA

Bio-PET

Vanillin Xylitol

10000-1000 BC

0 AD 1800 1900 1930 1950 20001000

Mannose to ethanol

BTLfuels

Tall-oil diesel

BiodieselHVO

Biogas

Dispersing (lignin)

Furfural

Resin

Explosives

Next decade industrial products and processes (guestimate)

September 19 2017

Bio-bitumen (lignin)

Lignin-based liquid fuels

Ionic liquid separation

New bio-plastics

CO2 reformingNon-pressurized processing

Biorefinery crops and trees

September 2027

Textiles

Textiles from wood

•Ioncell fibres -the new wood cotton

•Finnish (of course) public-private research program

•Ionic liquids dissolves the wood/cellulose enabling spinning of a new cellulose based textile fiber

The sugar platform: Wood, straw, stover or sugarcane to ethanol

Pretreatment

Enzymatic breakdown to small sugars

Fermentation

Destilation

Ethanol

CO2

Enzymes

Lignin

Straw and wood to ethanol -outlook

• Technically cellulosic ethanol works, but economy is tight!

• For sale at the gas pump!

• Process efficiency 65-70%

• Reducing cost works, but increasing income is better…..

• Higer value products of C5 and lignin is obvious, but large markets are needed –energy products!

• Just burning lignin is economically a bad option

• New options for products and what about electric cars?

Separation –the big challenge

The 2G bioethanol process separates the sugars and lignin

Lignocellulose –one tough substrate

The ”new” enzyme Lytic Polysaccharide MonooxygenaseLPMOs are part of the biomass deconstructing enzyme complex -they need electrons

• Ascorbic acid• Lignins• Phenolics• Metabolites

e

GlucoseBeta-glucosidase

•

• Some fungi express MANY LPMOs • LPMOs are very slow enzymes, or are they?

Nature has developed enzymes to take wood apart

-

Let there be light….

The green carbon cycle

Photosyntesis reduces carbon, metabolism oxidizes carbon

Reduction of carbon

Oxidation of carbon

CO2

Sugar

Protein

- O2+ O2

Lipid

Lignin

Biomass• Plants• Animals

Anaerobicconversion to methane

Photosynthesisproduces 130 Gtonbiomass anually

Metabolism almostconverts 130 Gtonbiomass anually

LPMO produces oligomers –how to measure

C1 and/or C4

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26

Native oligo

C1-oxi oligo

C4-oxi

LPMO enzymes needs electrons-known electron donors

Generic•Lignin•Lignans•Ascorbin syre•?

Specific•Other enzymes•Metabolites•?

Apparently for LPMOs an electron is an electron

e- e-

We started looking for the natural sources of LPMO electrons

25.09.2017

Where can you find the strongest electron donating systems??

Around here?

Benedikt’scyanobacterchlorophyll

Photosythesis! –Natures potent electrons 1,3 eV

Light antennas and electron donors Thylakoids and chlorophyllin

Thylakoids have chlorphyll embeeded in the membrane. Chlorophyllin is a water soluble chlorophyll derivative.

Thylakoids Chlorophyllin

First test

25.09.2017

1ste experiments absolutely nothing -nul og niks

LPMO+asc+sunLPMO+thy+sun

Cannella-Möllers et al Nature com 2016

BOOM!

A reductant recharging the pigment was needed.

•Oxidation of PASC

% P

ASC C

1 o

xid

ized

• Blue, gren, red and sunlight• Light intensity as in the

shadow of a tree on a summers day

State-of-the-art

Effect of wavelength

David

Benedikt

Reaction schemeLight Induced Electron Transfer

Cannella-Möllers et al Nature com 2016

Electron transfer (tunelling)-transfer of energy?

e-e-

e-

?How is the energy of the excited electron

transfered to the active site?

e-

Mulig elektron transportvejfra overfladen

What is really the meaning of all this?

Are these mechanisms part of the global carbon cycle?

Chlorophyll, porphyrin, lignin

& LPMO

LPMO

Oligosaccharider (sukkermad)Til bakterier og svampe

Autotrofe & heterotrofebateria and fungi

Cellulose

Chlorophyll

Lignine

Why does some fungiglow in the dark?

A full bioeconomy -How much more wood?

• Current roundwood production 1,8 Gton of wood

• Future applications

• Textiles 65 Mton

• Aviation fuel 200 Mton

• Marine Fuel 400 Mton

• Chemicals 1Gton

• Heat & power backup 2 Gton 0

1

2

3

4

5

6

Current Future

Gto

n w

ood

Take home

• To build a wood based renewable carbon supply three things really matters• Yield and sustainability!

• Yield and sustainability!

• Yield and sustainability!

• We have the technologies to replace all our fossil carbon based products

• Renewable carbon-based products will for the foreseeable future be more expensive than their fossil counterparts

• There is so much to learn from nature ☺