New Technologies for Industrial Production of Succinic Acid
Lead organization: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Year launched: 2021
The goal of this project is to develop new innovative technologies and strategies for large-scale fermentative production of succinic acid and demonstrate the feasibility of bioindustrial manufacturing of succinic acid on a pilot-scale.
Despite decades of intensive efforts, fermentative production of succinic acid on an industrial scale remains a challenge. One major bottleneck is the high cost of purification that accounts for more than 60% of the total cost of the whole process. One promising strategy to address this bottleneck is to produce succinic acid below pH 3, which can dramatically reduce the number of unit operations in downstream processing and minimize yield losses and investment costs.
Funding source: BioMADE Project Call 1.0
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Project Photos:
Researchers press wild-type sugarcane for juice at the Integrated Bioprocessing Research Laboratory (IBRL). © IBRL
The fermentation bioreactor and the CO2 tank that pumps carbon dioxide into the fermentation broth. © IBRL
The Illinois research team in front of a fermenter at IBRL, from left: Jeremy Guest, Sarang Bhagwat, Jayne Allen, Somesh Mishra, Benjamin Crosly (back), Vijay Singh, Huimin Zhao, Shih-I Tan, Vinh G. Tran, and Saman Shafaei. © Julie Wurth/CABBI Communications