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Continuous succinic acid production from xylose by Actinobacillus succinogenes

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Abstract

Continuous, anaerobic fermentations of D-xylose were performed by Actinobacillus succinogenes 130Z in a custom, biofilm reactor at dilution rates of 0.05, 0.10 and 0.30 h−1. Succinic acid yields on xylose (0.55–0.68 g g−1), titres (10.9–29.4 g L−1) and productivities (1.5–3.4 g L−1 h−1) were lower than those of a previous study on glucose, but product ratios (succinic acid/acetic acid = 3.0–5.0 g g−1) and carbohydrate consumption rates were similar. Also, mass balance closures on xylose were up to 18.2 % lower than those on glucose. A modified HPLC method revealed pyruvic acid excretion at appreciable concentrations (1.2–1.9 g L−1) which improved the mass balance closure by up to 16.8 %. Furthermore, redox balances based on the accounted xylose consumed and the excreted metabolites, indicated an overproduction of reducing power. The oxidative pentose phosphate pathway was shown to be a plausible source of the additional reducing power.

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Acknowledgments

The financial assistance of the National Research Foundation (NRF) towards this research is hereby acknowledged. Opinions expressed and conclusions arrived at, are those of the author and are not necessarily to be attributed to the NRF. We thank Andre Naude for his help in developing the HPLC methods.

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  1. Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Pretoria, Lynnwood Road, Hatfield, Pretoria, 0002, South Africa

    Michael F. A. Bradfield & Willie Nicol

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  1. Michael F. A. Bradfield
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Correspondence to Willie Nicol.

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Bradfield, M.F.A., Nicol, W. Continuous succinic acid production from xylose by Actinobacillus succinogenes . Bioprocess Biosyst Eng 39, 233–244 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00449-015-1507-3

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