Fumaric acid production by fermentation

The potential of fumaric acid as a raw material in the polymer industry and the increment of cost of petroleum-based fumaric acid raises interest in fermentation processes for production of this compound from renewable resources. Although the chemical process yields 112% w/w fumaric acid from maleic anhydride and the fermentation process yields only 85% w/w from glucose, the latter raw material is three times cheaper. Besides, the fermentation fixes CO2. Production of fumaric acid by Rhizopus species and the involved metabolic pathways are reviewed. Submerged fermentation systems coupled with product recovery techniques seem to have achieved economically attractive yields and productivities. Future prospects for improvement of fumaric acid production include metabolic engineering approaches to achieve low pH fermentations

Thermodynamics in biochemical engineering

Equil. aspects in biotechnol. and thermodn. as the main theory underlying them have thus far received relatively little attention. As a consequence, design and development of biotechnogical processes is still carried out today in an relatively empirical way. For this situation to improve, a wider and more systematic use of the thermodn. aspects pertaining to biotechnol. must be encouraged. Recognizing this need, the ESF program on Process Integration in Biotechnol. developed an intensive advanced course which was held twice so far. The present contribution uses the course structure in order to give a short overview of the field and to identify research needs. The development of a rigorous thermodn. description, for the exceedingly complex world of biotechnol., is indeed one of the major challenges today in establishing the scientific basis for rational efficient, and fast bioprocess development and design. [on SciFinder (R)