Their findings, recently published in Metabolic Engineering, lay the groundwork for a more environmentally friendly way to produce plastic, textiles, pharmaceuticals and more.
“In order to build a sustainable society, we need to move away from fossil fuels. But what many people don’t realize is that there’s a significant portion of fossil fuels that are not extracted for energy usage, but for chemical manufacturing,” said Anne Lalande, a graduate student in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at UBC and first author of the study. “We’re interested in using lignin, or wood waste, to make valuable chemicals in order to displace the fossil fuel industry.”