A new process for the continuous production of succinic acid from glucose at high yield, titer, and productivity

Abstract

A novel three stages continuous fermentation process for the bioproduction of succinic acid at high concentration, productivity and yield using A. succiniciproducens was developed. This process combined an integrated membrane-bioreactor-electrodialysis system. An energetic characterization of A. succiniciproducens during anaerobic cultured in a cell recycle bioreactor was done first. The very low value of Y(ATP) obtained suggests that an ATP dependent mechanism of succinate export is present in A. succiniciproducens. Under the best culture conditions, biomass concentration and succinate volumetric productivity reach values of 42 g/L and 14.8 g/L.h. These values are respectively 28 and 20 times higher compared to batch cultures done in our laboratory. To limit end-products inhibition on growth, a mono-polar electrodialysis pilot was secondly coupled to the cell recycle bioreactor. This system allowed to continuously remove succinate and acetate from the permeate and recycle an organic acids depleted solution in the reactor. The integrated membrane-bioreactor-electrodialysis process produced a five times concentrated succinate solution (83 g/L) compared to the cell recycle reactor system, at a high average succinate yield of 1.35 mol/mol and a slightly lower volumetric productivity of 10.4 g/L.h. The process combined maximal production yield to high productivity and titer and could be economically viable for the development of a biological route for succinic acid production.

Succinic Acid: A New Platform Chemical for Biobased Polymers from Renewable Resources

“…Lee et al [19] reported a maximum succinic acid yield of 0.91 mol/mol and a maximum productivity of 1.8 gL -1 h -1 . Meynial-Salles et al [23] observed growth inhibition caused by the endproducts, succinic acid and acetic acid. The introduction of a coupled mono-polar electrodialysis for removing the end products from the fermentation broth enhanced growth, productivity, and final product concentration.…”

Continuous succinic acid fermentation by Actinobacillus succinogenes

“…With the exception of the work done by Urbance et al [11] and Meynial-Salles et al [12], all continuous SA work was done at the Korean Institute of Advanced Technology (KAIST) where M.…”

“…Apart from normal suspended cell systems ('chemostat'), membrane systems with cell recycle as well as biofilm reactors were used in an attempt to enhance productivity [11][12][13]17]. Particular success was achieved by Meynial-Salles et al [12] with A. succiniciproducens where a very high productivity of 14.8 g L -1 h -1 was obtained with a SA yield of 0.83 g g -1…”

Toward Homosuccinate Fermentation: Metabolic Engineering of Corynebacterium glutamicum for Anaerobic Production of Succinate from Glucose and Formate

“…Optimization of production conditions and/or manipulation of metabolic pathways led to the development of succinate production processes with high yield (Ͼ1 mol/mol glucose) and productivity (14,31,34,35). However, most of the described strains require complex medium and show high by-product accumulation (mainly pyruvate and acetate), increasing the costs associated with production and purification.…”