Prospects for Succinic Acid Production

At this writing, there is no commercial large-scale process for succinic acid production by fermentation (O Table 1.23). To make large-scale commodity chemicals derived from succinic acid, the price of the acid needs to be in the range of less than 50 cents per pound. This is due to the competition with petrochemically derived raw materials that are also sold in this price range or at an even lower price. 

The specialty markets for succinic acid such as surfactants, food uses, and health-related ingredients may benefit from having a natural succinic acid produced by fermentation. As the prices of these materials are much higher than commodity chemicals, a fermentation-based process may be able to make product at a cost competitive for these markets (Tsao et al. 1999). 

What are some of the technology developments needed to make the production of succinic acid by fermentation an attractive economic option The theoretical yield of succinic acid is greater than 1 kg of succinic acid per kilogram of glucose. To achieve this theoretical yield, efficient delivery of CO2 for fixation by the organism is necessary. Also, strains that can use H2 to supply reducing equivalents may yield economic improvements in the fermentation process. 

Assignee Patent number Year Organism Technology 

University of Georgia research PCT WO99/53035 1999 E. coli Strain improvement 

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