Abstract
Commodity chemicals are inexpensive, have larger demands and are produced and sold in bulk. They generally are intermediates involved in the syntheses of high end products (Table 7.1). Initially the chemical industry was dependent on nonrenewable resources for virtually all commodity chemicals. The cost of the feedstocks for commodity chemicals is directly associated with the cost of the petroleum and hence represents 50–75 % of the manufacturing cost of the commodity chemicals. However, the enhanced cost of the petroleum and natural gas resources as well as considering their possible exhaustion in the future due to continuous industrial demand newer alternatives are being explored. One of the major technologies being explored by the industries in the USA, Europe and Japan is conversion of biomass into commodity chemicals using microbial interventions. Biomass generally comprises of crop and forest product wastes and municipal and agricultural wastes. Technologically it is possible to produce all the commodity chemicals from biomass feedstocks like starch and cellulose.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Selected Reading
Asano Y, Tani Y, Yamada H (1980) A new enzyme “nitrile hydratase” which degrades acetonitrile in combination with amidase. Agric Biol Chem 44:2251–2252
Cooney CL (1983) Prospects for chemicals and fuels production by fermentation. Basic biology of new developments in biotechnology. Plenum Press, New York
Draths KM, Frost JW (1994) Environmentally compatible synthesis of adipic acid from D-glucose. J Am Chem Soc 116:399–400
Elander RP (2003) Industrial production of β-lactam antibiotics. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 61:385–392
Enebo L (1954) Studies in cellulose decomposition by an anaerobic thermophilic bacterium and two associated non-cellulolytic species. Viktor Pettersons Bokindustrie Akuebolag, Stockholm
Karaffa L, Kubicek CP (2003) Aspergillus niger citric acid accumulation: do we understand this well working black box? Appl Microb Biotechnol 61:189–196
Nagasawa T, Yamada H (1995) Microbial production of commodity chemicals. Pure Appl Chem 67(7):1241–1256
Saxena RK, Pinki A, Saurabh S, Jasmine I, Lata A (2010) Microbial production and application of 1, 2-propanediol. Ind J Microb 50(1):2–11
Soccol CR, Vandenberghe LPS, Rodrigues C, Pandey A (2006) New perspectives for citric acid production and application. Food Technol Biotechnol 44(2):141–149
Watanabe I (1987) Acrylamide production method using immobilized nitrilase containing microbial cells. Meth Enzymol 136:523–530
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer India
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Saxena, S. (2015). Microbes in Production of Commodity Chemicals. In: Applied Microbiology. Springer, New Delhi. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-81-322-2259-0_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-81-322-2259-0_7
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New Delhi
Print ISBN: 978-81-322-2258-3
Online ISBN: 978-81-322-2259-0
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)