Anaerobic Fermentation for Production of Carboxylic Acids as Bulk Chemicals from Renewable Biomass

Abstract

Biomass represents an abundant carbon-neutral renewable resource which can be converted to bulk chemicals to replace petrochemicals. Carboxylic acids have wide applications in the chemical, food, and pharmaceutical industries. This chapter provides an overview of recent advances and challenges in the industrial production of various types of carboxylic acids, including short-chain fatty acids (acetic, propionic, butyric), hydroxy acids (lactic, 3-hydroxypropionic), dicarboxylic acids (succinic, malic, fumaric, itaconic, adipic, muconic, glucaric), and others (acrylic, citric, gluconic, pyruvic) by anaerobic fermentation. For economic production of these carboxylic acids as bulk chemicals, the fermentation process must have a sufficiently high product titer, productivity and yield, and low impurity acid byproducts to compete with their petrochemical counterparts. System metabolic engineering offers the tools needed to develop novel strains that can meet these process requirements for converting biomass feedstock to the desirable product.

Anaerobes in Industrial- and Environmental Biotechnology

“…Organic acids are other products formed by anaerobic fermentation of glycerol [6]. The bacteria belonging to the genera Propionibacteria produce propionic acid using the Wood Werkman cycle, and, as indicated above, the use of glycerol is advantageous because of its reduced nature and formation of less by-products even though the growth rate is lower compared to the sugar substrate.…”

“…The earliest industrial applications of anaerobes have been in the production of foods such as bread, yoghurt, cheese and sauerkraut, and wines and beer. They have also been used for the production of chemicals including solvents, organic acids [6], vitamins, and pharmaceutical products [7]. An area of great importance where anaerobes have made enormous impact is that of environmental remediation wherein their metabolic diversity in transforming a range of organic and inorganic compounds is utilized for treatment of solid and liquid municipal and industrial waste streams [8].…”

“…The main limitation, however, is their low growth rate and hence long process times caused by the limited amount of energy generated in the absence of O 2 . Hence process intensification by, for example, implementing approaches for maintaining high cell density, good mass transfer, and removal of product inhibition is needed to develop efficient processes [6,8].…”

Review of advanced physical and data‐driven models for dynamic bioprocess simulation: Case study of algae–bacteria consortium wastewater treatment

“…including bulk chemicals, polymers, pharmaceuticals, and food additives (Bankar, Dhumal, Bhotmange, Bhagwat, & Singhal, 2014;Jing et al, 2018;Wang, Lin, Xu, & Yang, 2015). including bulk chemicals, polymers, pharmaceuticals, and food additives (Bankar, Dhumal, Bhotmange, Bhagwat, & Singhal, 2014;Jing et al, 2018;Wang, Lin, Xu, & Yang, 2015).…”

“…including bulk chemicals, polymers, pharmaceuticals, and food additives (Bankar, Dhumal, Bhotmange, Bhagwat, & Singhal, 2014;Jing et al, 2018;Wang, Lin, Xu, & Yang, 2015). Their global market demand has been expected to reach over $2.4 trillion in 2025 (John, 2018).…”