WP OBJECTIVES
The work package has three overall objectives, which are outlined in the figure below.
1. Microbial production of organic acids from C5 and C6 sugars derived from hydrolysed biomass.
2. Enzymatic transformations of the simple chemicals obtained from biomass processing into added value functionalised molecules (e.g. enantiomerically pure chiral amines, alcohols, aldehydes, carboxylic esters) that have value as intermediates for the synthesis of pharmaceuticals, fine chemicals, agrochemicals, personal health care ingredients, flavour and fragrance components etc.
3. Process modelling and pilot studies to assess design requirements of full scale industrial plants.

WP ACTIVITIES
1a. Screening and adaptation of acid producing bacteria.
1b. Genetic modification of acid-producing bacteria to increase the yield.
1c. Screening, selection and adaptation of acid-producing fungal strains.
1d. Pathway engineering of selected fungal strains to optimise the yield.
1f. Optimisation of selected and modified bacterial and fungal strains in lab-scale fermenters.
2a. Identification of novel enzymes with previously uncharacterised properties for conversion of C5 and C6 sugars to valuable chiral molecules.
2b. Implementation of rapid development of enzymes to provide practical biocatalysts for biomass sugar processing.
2c. Investigation and use of novel enzymes for lipid modification.
2d. Implementation of directed evolution technologies to optimise enzymatic performance.
2e. Development of novel biocatalysts that are able to functionalise aromatic lignin residues that are derived from the pre-treated lignin biomass.
3a. Development and verification of models for the conversion of biomass sugars to organic acids.
3b. Construction of pilot plant and testing of the most promising bacterial and fungal acid-producing fermentations.
3c. Small and large scale pilot experiments to optimise biocatalytic enzymatic conversion processes

WP EXPECTED RESULTS
· Selected and genetically engineered propionic and butyric acid producing bacteria with significantly increased tolerance to the produced acids.
· Selected and genetically engineered fungal strains with elevated production of organic acids.
· Novel enzymatic processes for the conversion of natural sugars into chemical intermediates.
· Novel enzymes for the development of technical platforms for lipid modification including desaturases, hydroxylases and carboxylic acid reductases.
· Biocatalysts that are able to convert low value lignin derived building blocks into high value chiral platform chemicals including amines, alcohols, aldehydes and carboxylic acids.
· Industrial plant requirements for upscaling of bacterial and fungal production of organic acids from biomass sugars.
· Industrial plant requirements for upscaling selective enzymatic transformation of biomass sugars, plant lipids, and lignin residues.