Fuels and Chemicals from Hemicellulose Sugars - Biotechnology in China: Biofuels and Bioenergy - page 215

Fig. 5 Two-stage utilization of the hemicellulose and cellulose components of corn straw for
fumaric acid production

mainly manufactured by a chemical route, hydrogenation of maleic anhydride to
succinic anhydride, followed by hydration to succinic acid. However, recent
analysis showed that the cost of fermentative production of succinic acid from
renewable resources is getting closer to the petroleum-based process, and bio-
based succinic acid production also involves CO 2 fixation (theoretically 1 mol CO 2
per mole succinic acid produced); fermentative production of succinic acid is
therefore becoming more and more competitive [ 134 ].
Many different microorganisms such as fungi, yeast, and bacteria have been
chosen for succinic acid production. Among them, Actinobacillus succinogenes,
Anaerobiospirillum succiniciproducens, Mannheimia succiniciproducens, and
recombinant E. coli have been intensively studied due to their ability to produce a
large amount of succinic acid. Recently, more efforts have been put into succinic
acid production from hemicellulose. Lee et al. [ 135 ] isolated a new succinic acid-
producing bacterium, M. succiniciproducens MBEL 55E, from bovine rumen, and
found that this strain can utilize xylose as well as glucose. Batch and continuous
fermentation strategies were then developed for succinic acid production from
wood hydrolyzate. In batch cultures, the final succinic acid concentration, yield,
and productivity were 11.73 g/L, 56%, and 1.17 g/L respectively [ 136 ].
In China, fermentative succinic acid production using hemicellulose sugars as
substrate has also attracted great attention. Zheng et al. [ 137 ] suggested that corn
straw could be the most suitable material for succinic acid production by
A. succinogenes after comparing kinds of raw material straw, and found that cell
growth and succinic acid production were inhibited when the initial sugar con-
centration was higher than 60 g/L. Chen et al. [ 138 ] optimized the hydrolysis
conditions of corn fiber pretreatment, and indicated that the effective method for
removing

fermentation inhibitors, especially furfural, was to use CaCO 3