Biorefineries succinic acid

Nowadays, the bulk of succinic acid (SA) is produced at a rate of 25,000 tons per year from maleic anhydride obtained by oxidation of the C4 fraction (n-butane or butadiene) of crude oil [321]. However, the biotechnological production of SA by fermentation of carbohydrates has attracted more recent attention (http // www.dsm.com/en US/downloads/media/12e 09 dsm and roquette connmercialize bio based succinic acid.pdf, http //www.bio-amber.com/press releases.php, [322-326]). The economic and environmental analysis of a biorefinery producing SA indicated that bio-SA is a promising intermediate provided that its production cost could be lowered further [322]. 

Dorado MP, Lin SK, Kontinas A, Du C, Wang R, Webb C. (2009). Cereal-based biorefinery development ntUisation of wheat milling by-prodncts for the production of succinic acid. J Biotechnol, 143, 51-59. 

In addition to the extractable functional molecules found in biomass, we can also make additional useful functional molecules or platform molecules , such as succinic acid, lactic acid and levoglucosenone, by biochemical or thermochemical processing of the bulk cellulosic components of many types of biomass. A biorefinery is an analogue to the current petro-refinery in the sense that it produces energy and chemicals. The major differences lies in the raw material it will use, ranging from biomass to waste (Figure 1.2). 

C4 dicarboxyUc acids are already identified in the US Department of Energy s list (2004) of potential large-scale biomass-derived chemicals (Werpy and Petersen 2004). In the past decade, succinic acid has established itself as a foreruimer in biorefinery platform chemicals. Compared with traditional synthetic methods by fossil fuels, the production of succinic acid from natural derived biomass would alleviate our dependence on oil supply for the production of these platform chemicals in future. Recognizing the importance of the biotechnological production of succinic acid, herein we intend to review microorganism producers and... 

Wang CX, Thygesen A, Liu YL, Li Q, Yang MH, Dang D, Wang Z, Wan YH, Lin WG, Xing JM (2013) Bio-oil based biorefinery strategy for the production of succinic acid. Biotechnol Biofuels 6 74-84... 

Dorado MP, Lina SKC, Koutinasa A, Dtta C, Wang R, Webb C. 2009. Cereal-Based Biorefinery Development Utilisation of Wheat MiUing By-Produds for the Production of Succinic Acid. J. Biotechnol. 143 51-59. 

Succinic and malic acids are listed among the top 15 platform chemical opportunities to be produced from biorefinery carbohydrates by the US Department of Energy (DoE Werpy et al., 2004 Bozell and Petersen, 2010). Succinic acid is traditionally produced by the catalytic hydrogenation of petrochemical maleic acid or anhydride (de Jong et al., 2012). Its market value potential has been projected as 245 x 10 tons per year, while an additional market size of 25 X10 tons per year is expected for succinic acid-derived polymers (Bozell and Petersen, 2010). Therefore biosuccinic acid production from microbial processes is anticipated to increase progressively in the near future. 

Two recent international studies focusing on potential chemicals that can be produced from renewable biomass and serve as economic drivers for a biorefinery have both identified three C4-dicarboxylic acids as top candidates succinic, fumaric and malic acids... 

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