Biological pathways to the production of levulinic acid from lignocellulosic Resources

Abstract

Lignocellulosic biomass is an abundant and valuable raw material for high commercial value and great industrial importance for bio-based chemical production, including levulinic acid as a relevant product. Levulinic acid (LA) is a versatile and specialty chemical in the green chemistry field with relevant applications in varied domains. Traditionally, the most widely used processes for producing LA are the homogeneous and heterogeneous acid hydrolysis of carbohydrates. There are few reports on the biological-based production of LA, so it remains a challenge. The development of metabolic engineering pathways for levulinic acid is definitively in the early stage and, at the moment, cannot meet the requirements for industrial production. Therefore, there is a need to bridge the gap between the well-developed chemical conversion processes and the underdeveloped biological conversion processes for levulinic acid.