Biomass fermentation succinic acid production

Efe, (J., van der Welen, L.A., and Straathof, A.J. (2013) Techno-economic analysis of succinic acid production using adsorption from fermentation medium. Biomass Bioenergy,... 

The yield of 1,3-PD for this reaction is 67% (mol/mol). If biomass formation is considered the theoretical maximal yield reduces to 64%. In the actual fermentation a number of other by-products are formed, i. e., ethanol, lactic acid, succinic acid, and 2,3-butanediol, by the enterobacteria Klebsiella pneumoniae, Citrobacter freundii and Enterobacter agglomerans, butyric acid by Clostridium butyricum, and butanol by Clostridium pasteurianum (Fig. 1). All these by-products are associated with a loss in 1,3-PD relative to acetic acid, in particular ethanol and butanol, which do not contribute to the NADH2 pool at all. 

There are twelve important platform chemicals listed that are derived from biomass [26]. They include succinic acid, itaconic add, and glycerol. Some other important biobased renewable chemicals such as lactic acid and 1,4-butanediol are produced via fermentation and/or chemo-enzymatic processes from various biomass sources like com, sugarcane, wheat, etc. These platform chemicals have been used as starting materials for the production of polymers. 

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