Difference between revisions of "Team:NPU-China/Hardware"

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                         <a href="https://2017.igem.org/Team:NPU-China/Hardware">Hardware</a>
 
                         <a href="https://2017.igem.org/Team:NPU-China/Hardware">Hardware</a>
 
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                    <h4>The theme of our project this year is Manufacture, so we have been trying to contrive a series of hardware
 
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                        to model the industrial production and enhance our method. However, the gap does exist between the
 
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                        reality and our expectation.
 
−
                    </h4>
 
  
−
                     <h3 style="text-align:center">List of what we use</h3>
+
                     <h2 style="text-align:center">Introduction</h2>
  
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                     <h4>By listing the main items we have purchased and actually used, we hope to provide some experience and
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                     <h4>In the past 100 years, the rapid development of the traditional chemical industry has greatly promoted
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                         inspiration for the future team wishing to have HW production.
+
                         the improvement of people’s material living standard. Our basic necessities of life are almost inseparable
−
                    </h4>
+
                        from the chemical synthesis goods. However, the environmental pollution and energy crises have also
−
                    <div align="center">
+
                        forced people to find new solutions. Synthetic biology instructs us that we can introduce new chemical
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                            <img class="img-responsive" src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2017/1/19/Hardware_tab.png" width="60%" height="60%" >
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                        reactions into biological cells, thus producing high quality chemical products in a greener way.</h4>
−
                    </div>
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−
                   
+
  
 +
                    <h3 style="text-align:center">Then what does synthetic biology "synthesize"?</h3>
  
  
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                    <h3 style="text-align:center">Hardware Design</h3>
 
  
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                     <h4>Our system is mainly composed of two parts: reaction part and concentrated crystallization part. The
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                     <h4>Biosynthesis of synthetic biology lies mainly in the biosynthesis of natural product and synthesis of
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                         overall idea is that the reaction part provides the bacteria with appropriate reaction temperature,
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                         bulk chemical. The former is represented by artemisinin, lycopene and carotene, etc., and the use
−
                         adequate oxygen and the prevention of bacterial precipitation. After a certain period of time, the
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                        of synthetic biology method to synthesize our daily necessities of traditional chemical products
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                         reaction solution will be transferred to the concentrated crystallization part, where the concentration
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                        or raw materials can serve more people. Today, scientists have been able to use micro-organisms or
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                         of the productivity is increased by the reverse osmosis membrane; the temperature of the reaction
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                         modified industrial enzymes to synthesize bio-plastics, bio-fuels, chemical raw materials and other
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                         solution is lowered by the device, and the acrylic acid is finally crystallized.
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                        chemical products. For example, DuPont has achieved the reality of micro-algae efficiently synthesizing
−
                    </h4>
+
                         isobutanol; Blupha, a well-known company to China’s iGEM teams, also has also mastered the biosynthetic
 +
                         method to get PHA production. However, most of the existing products are facing the dilemma as for
 +
                         the cost, making them outshined by the traditional chemical products, which in fact limits the industrial
 +
                        promotion of synthetic biology.</h4>
  
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                    <h4>1）Reaction Part</h4>
 
  
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                     <h4>The reaction part mainly uses miniature DC self-priming pump, foam machine, acrylic material container,
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                     <h2 style="text-align:center">Background
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                        aluminum hollow cylinder (built-in heating wire) and NTC thermistor temperature sensor.
+
                     </h2>
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                     </h4>
+
  
−
                     <h4>
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                     <h4>This year, we focus mainly on an important synthetic organic chemical raw material——acrylic acid. We
−
                         (图)Fig1 Hontainer made of Acrylics Fig2 Hollow cylinder made of aluminum alloy Fig3Miniature DC self - priming pump Fig4
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                         hope to build efficient cell factories to achieve "all green" production of acrylic acid.</h4>
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                        3D design drawing
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                    </h4>
+
  
  
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                     <h4>Instructions：When the system starts, the pump will continue to pump the upper reaction solution, which
+
                     <h3 style="text-align:center">What is acrylic acid?</h3>
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                        will blend a large amount of air bubbles after passing the foam machine, and then will be pumped
+
 
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                        back from the bottom reaction container. Furthermore, since the reaction vessel is cylindrical and
+
 
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                         the bubbles are continuously rising, the purpose of stirring the reaction solution and providing
+
                    <h4>Acrylic acid is an important synthetic organic chemical raw material. Acrylic acid and its ester compounds
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                        sufficient air can be achieved. Simultaneously, with the help of the temperature sensor, the system
+
                         are widely used in adhesives, coatings, synthetic rubber, high absorbent resin and other chemical
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                         will be able to control heating wire inside the aluminum alloy cylinder, so that the reaction solution
+
                         products.
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                        can maintain a suitable temperature range. Also, the poor thermal conductivity of acrylic materials
+
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                        is conducive to insulation. (We had considered heating the air mixed with the reaction solution at
+
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                        the foaming machine so that the reaction liquid pumped back to the reaction vessel would be blended
+
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                        with a large amount of hot air, which could replace the additional heating device, but due to the
+
−
                        safety and energy efficiency, this thought was given up.)
+
 
                     </h4>
 
                     </h4>
  
−
                    <h4>2）Concentrated Crystallization Part</h4>
 
  
−
                     <h4>After the reaction has been performed for one cycle, the reaction part stops, and the reaction solution
+
                    <h3 style="text-align:center">The existing methods of producing acrylic acid
−
                         is thus introduced into the concentrated crystallization part and the work begins.
+
                    </h3>
−
                         <br> In this part we mainly use the acrylic material container, aluminum alloy cold source (including
+
 
−
                         collection function), reverse osmosis membrane, pressure pump, temperature sensor, water level sensor
+
                     <h4>According to our current research carried out about the acrylic acid synthesis method, we list them as
−
                         and semiconductor refrigeration film, etc.
+
                        follows:
 +
                        <br> 1、Traditional chemical synthesis
 +
                        <br>图 Acrylic acid two-step oxidation
 +
                        <br> Propylene firstly reacts with oxygen to produce acrolein, whose deoxidation leads to the production
 +
                        of acrylic acid. The conversion rate is often up to 90%, so this method is applied in most industrial
 +
                        production of acrylic acid
 +
                        <br> Although this practice has many advantages, but the raw material depends heavily on the traditional
 +
                        fossil energy, bringing about heavy pollution, high energy consumption and a lack of sustainability.
 +
                         Therefore, it is imperative to develop renewable energy alternative to replace fossil energy to produce
 +
                        acrylic acid in a greener way.
 +
                        <br> 2、Acrylic acid semi-biosynthesis
 +
                        <br> Acrylic acid semi-biosynthesis refers to the method of using micro-organisms to turn acrylonitrile,
 +
                        acrylamide and other petrochemical raw materials into acrylic acid.
 +
                        <br>图Acrylonitrile conversion
 +
                        <br>图Acrylamide conversion
 +
                        <br>Acrylic acid semi-biological method, although possesses the high yield, its raw materials acrylonitrile
 +
                        and acrylamide cost even more than acrylic acid, which limits the industrialization of this method.
 +
                         <br> 3.Acrylic acid complete biosynthesis
 +
                        <br> Acrylic acid complete biosynthesis method refers to the direct use of saccharides and other biomass
 +
                        fermentation to produce acrylic acid.
 +
                        <br>图Lactate dehydration pathway
 +
                        <br>图3-hydroxypropionic acid pathway
 +
                        <br>图Propionic acid oxidation pathway
 +
                        <br>图DMSP pathway
 +
                        <br> Some shortcomings of the existing acrylic acid biosynthesis method include complexity of the synthetic
 +
                         pathway , obscuration of the synthesis mechanism and low efficiency of the synthesis. How to build
 +
                         a short and efficient acrylic acid biosynthetic pathway to achieve a highly efficient acrylic biosynthetic
 +
                        factory is the very key to success! And this is also the entry point of our project this year.
 +
                        <br>
 
                     </h4>
 
                     </h4>
 +
                    <h3 style="text-align:center">why we choose Glycerol as cabon source</h3>
  
−
                     <h4>
+
                     <h4>Glycerol is a simple polyol compound, which presents as viscous liquid at the room temperature. It is
−
                         （图）Fig5 Hontainer made of Acrylics Fig6 Cold source produced by aluminum alloy Fig 7 Reverse osmosis RO membrane Fig9 3D
+
                         colorless, tasteless and non-toxic. Glycerol is a by-product of the biodiesel manufacturing industry,
−
                         design drawing
+
                        which once was a relatively scarce chemical raw material. With the rapid development of bio-diesel
 +
                        manufacturing industry in recent years, the substantial increase of glycerol production has led to
 +
                        the significantly lower price. Therefore, the use of glycerol as a raw material for microbial cell
 +
                        factory to produce bulk chemicals has the advantage of being cheap and green, while it also allays
 +
                        the pressure of dealing with the by-products waste in the production of biodiesel. In addition, compared
 +
                         with glucose, xylose and other carbohydrate substrates, glycerol metabolism can produce higher reducing
 +
                        power, making it the ideal carbon source for the fermentation synthesis in cell factory.
 
                     </h4>
 
                     </h4>
  
  
−
                    <h4>Instructions:Concentrated crystallization part is relatively independent. As long as the system detects
 
−
                        that the internal water level is higher than the reverse osmosis membrane, the part will start to
 
−
                        work. With the pressure pump and reverse osmosis membrane, the water of the reaction solution will
 
−
                        be continuously extracted, which continues to improve the concentration of acrylic acid. And the
 
−
                        semiconductor refrigeration film will help keep the solution temperature below the melting point
 
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                        286K of acrylic acid. After many rounds of cycles, acrylic acid crystals can be collected on the
 
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                        bottom cooling source (but mixed with engineered bacteria).
 
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                        <br> 3）System Controlling
 
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                        <br> In order to keep as much as possible in line with the actual industrial production, our device involves
 
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                        a lot of electronic components, pumps, etc., so we designed a set of controlling procedures.
 
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                        <br> Because of our lack of experience and staff, we chose to master the Arduino controlling board due
 
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                        to its lower difficulty, which shortened our production time. In addition, we also use 1602LCD display,
 
−
                        Relay module, NTC thermistor temperature sensor, Adjustable DC power supply, Semiconductor refrigeration
 
−
                        chip, Arduino controlling panel, Water level sensor, DuPont line, LCD1602 LCD adapter board, Motor
 
−
                        drive extension and so on.
 
−
                        <br> Here is our main program of the controlling system:
 
−
                    </h4>
 
  
−
                    (压缩文件)
 
  
  
  
−
                    <h3 style="text-align:center">Video</h3>
 
  
  
  
−
                    <h3 style="text-align:center">Impression summary</h3>
 
  
−
                    <h4>We have no relevant laboratory and company support, staff is also very scarce (the main staff is only
+
 
−
                        one person). The road of our first HW work was quite stumbling. So in this part, we hope to be able
+
−
                        to provide a lesson that feels most profound:
+
−
                        <br> Before the actual production and debugging, full consideration and deduction must be carried out.
+
−
                        The delivery of the things bought often cost two or three days (in China, we mainly do online shopping,
+
−
                        so the courier time needs to be considered), and the purchase of goods may be inconsistent with what
+
−
                        we wanted. Plus, the negligence of some important details may lead to the purchase of wrong things,
+
−
                        which will waste a lot of valuable time.
+
−
                        <br> If you want to know more or cooperate with us, welcome to contact us
+
−
                    </h4>
+
  
 
                 </div>
 
                 </div>

Revision as of 10:46, 27 October 2017

Introduction

In the past 100 years, the rapid development of the traditional chemical industry has greatly promoted the improvement of people’s material living standard. Our basic necessities of life are almost inseparable from the chemical synthesis goods. However, the environmental pollution and energy crises have also forced people to find new solutions. Synthetic biology instructs us that we can introduce new chemical reactions into biological cells, thus producing high quality chemical products in a greener way.

Then what does synthetic biology "synthesize"?

Biosynthesis of synthetic biology lies mainly in the biosynthesis of natural product and synthesis of bulk chemical. The former is represented by artemisinin, lycopene and carotene, etc., and the use of synthetic biology method to synthesize our daily necessities of traditional chemical products or raw materials can serve more people. Today, scientists have been able to use micro-organisms or modified industrial enzymes to synthesize bio-plastics, bio-fuels, chemical raw materials and other chemical products. For example, DuPont has achieved the reality of micro-algae efficiently synthesizing isobutanol; Blupha, a well-known company to China’s iGEM teams, also has also mastered the biosynthetic method to get PHA production. However, most of the existing products are facing the dilemma as for the cost, making them outshined by the traditional chemical products, which in fact limits the industrial promotion of synthetic biology.

Background

This year, we focus mainly on an important synthetic organic chemical raw material——acrylic acid. We hope to build efficient cell factories to achieve "all green" production of acrylic acid.

What is acrylic acid?

Acrylic acid is an important synthetic organic chemical raw material. Acrylic acid and its ester compounds are widely used in adhesives, coatings, synthetic rubber, high absorbent resin and other chemical products.

The existing methods of producing acrylic acid

According to our current research carried out about the acrylic acid synthesis method, we list them as follows:
1、Traditional chemical synthesis
图 Acrylic acid two-step oxidation
Propylene firstly reacts with oxygen to produce acrolein, whose deoxidation leads to the production of acrylic acid. The conversion rate is often up to 90%, so this method is applied in most industrial production of acrylic acid
Although this practice has many advantages, but the raw material depends heavily on the traditional fossil energy, bringing about heavy pollution, high energy consumption and a lack of sustainability. Therefore, it is imperative to develop renewable energy alternative to replace fossil energy to produce acrylic acid in a greener way.
2、Acrylic acid semi-biosynthesis
Acrylic acid semi-biosynthesis refers to the method of using micro-organisms to turn acrylonitrile, acrylamide and other petrochemical raw materials into acrylic acid.
图Acrylonitrile conversion
图Acrylamide conversion
Acrylic acid semi-biological method, although possesses the high yield, its raw materials acrylonitrile and acrylamide cost even more than acrylic acid, which limits the industrialization of this method.
3.Acrylic acid complete biosynthesis
Acrylic acid complete biosynthesis method refers to the direct use of saccharides and other biomass fermentation to produce acrylic acid.
图Lactate dehydration pathway
图3-hydroxypropionic acid pathway
图Propionic acid oxidation pathway
图DMSP pathway
Some shortcomings of the existing acrylic acid biosynthesis method include complexity of the synthetic pathway , obscuration of the synthesis mechanism and low efficiency of the synthesis. How to build a short and efficient acrylic acid biosynthetic pathway to achieve a highly efficient acrylic biosynthetic factory is the very key to success! And this is also the entry point of our project this year.

why we choose Glycerol as cabon source

Glycerol is a simple polyol compound, which presents as viscous liquid at the room temperature. It is colorless, tasteless and non-toxic. Glycerol is a by-product of the biodiesel manufacturing industry, which once was a relatively scarce chemical raw material. With the rapid development of bio-diesel manufacturing industry in recent years, the substantial increase of glycerol production has led to the significantly lower price. Therefore, the use of glycerol as a raw material for microbial cell factory to produce bulk chemicals has the advantage of being cheap and green, while it also allays the pressure of dealing with the by-products waste in the production of biodiesel. In addition, compared with glucose, xylose and other carbohydrate substrates, glycerol metabolism can produce higher reducing power, making it the ideal carbon source for the fermentation synthesis in cell factory.