Abstract
Volatile fatty acids (VFAs) are used as building blocks to synthesize a wide range of commercially-important chemicals. Microbially produced VFAs (acetic acid, propionic acid, butyric acid, isobutyric acid, and isovaleric acid) can be considered as a replacement for petroleum-based VFAs due to their renewability, degradability, and sustainability. The main objective of this review is to summarize research and development of VFA production methods via microbial routes, their downstream processes, current applications, and main challenges. Various fermentation processes have been developed to produce of VFAs starting from commercially-available sugars and other raw materials such as lignocellulose, whey, and waste sludge. Only few microbes have been explored for their potential to produce VFAs, and very little genomic information data is available at the present time. There is a need to use metabolic engineering, systematic biology, evolutionary engineering, and bioinformatics to discover VFA biosynthesis routes since the pathways for isobutyric acid and isovaleric acids are still not well understood.
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Acknowledgement
This study was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF-2015R1A2A2A04006014, NRF-2016R1D1A1B03932301, NRF-2015M1A5A1037196). Consulting service from the Microbial Carbohydrate Resource Bank (MCRB, Seoul, Korea) was kindly appreciated. The authors acknowledge the Research Professor Program of Konkuk University, Seoul, South Korea for providing financial support to Dr. Shashi Kant Bhatia.
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Bhatia, S.K., Yang, YH. Microbial production of volatile fatty acids: current status and future perspectives. Rev Environ Sci Biotechnol 16, 327–345 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11157-017-9431-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11157-017-9431-4