Abstract
Glycerol is a readily available and inexpensive substance that is mostly generated during biofuel production processes. In order to ensure the viability of the biofuel industry, it is essential to develop complementing technologies for the resource utilization of glycerol. Ethylene glycol is a two-carbon organic chemical with multiple applications and a huge market. In this study, an artificial enzymatic cascade comprised alditol oxidase, catalase, glyoxylate/hydroxypyruvate reductase, pyruvate decarboxylase and lactaldehyde:propanediol oxidoreductase was developed for the production of ethylene glycol from glycerol. The reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) generated during the dehydrogenation of the glycerol oxidation product d-glycerate can be as the reductant to support the ethylene glycol production. Using this in vitro synthetic system with self-sufficient NADH recycling, 7.64 ± 0.15 mM ethylene glycol was produced from 10 mM glycerol in 10 h, with a high yield of 0.515 ± 0.1 g/g. The in vitro enzymatic cascade is not only a promising alternative for the generation of ethylene glycol but also a successful example of the value-added utilization of glycerol.
Highlights
IntroductionPublisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations
Academic Editors: Peter Adewale and Michele C
An excess of glycerol production in the biofuel industry leads to a dramatic decrease of the price of glycerol, which has a negative impact on the development of the biofuels industry [5]
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Ethylene glycol is a large-volume commodity that is widely used in many industrial processes, such as glycolic acid production and polyethylene terephthalate synthesis [6]. Several metabolic pathways have been constructed for the biotechnological production of ethylene glycol from renewable substrates such as D-glucose, D-xylose and L-arabinose [12,13,14]. An in vitro synthetic system is emerging as a promising technique for the synthesis An in vitroproducts syntheticfrom system is emerging as a promising technique for the synthesis of of high-value cheap and renewable substrates [15,16]. We have designed an artificial enzymic cascade for the conversion of glycerol of glycerol to ethylene glycol that only requires five enzymes.
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