Fig. 5. Cyanobacteria biomass preprocessing metrics required for the bio-ISRU production of 2,3-BDO.

a Weight percent of total cyanobacteria biomass digested into glucose depends on the enzymatic digester residence time. The enzymatic digester size increases with increasing residence time. Inset is a cartoon of the enzyme digester composition: cyanobacteria (green), digesting enzymes (yellow, purple), released sugars (orange hexagons). Increasing the enzymatic digester residence time b decreases the volume of water needed and c decreases the payload mass of the cyanobacteria growth system. Results are based on 10 tons of 2,3-BDO produced over 500 sols. Source data underlying b and c are provided as a Source Data file.