(146b) Production of Platform Chemicals from Renewable Sugars: Low-Cost Succinic Acid Fermentation Using Engineered Escherichia Coli

Succinic acid is a platform chemical that can be used to make several industrial chemicals including non-toxic solvents, adhesives, paint-additives, and non-corrosive road deicers. A novel and cost-effective fermentation process is being developed to produce succinic acid using a metabolically engineered E.coli SBS550MG and renewable sugars derived from corn and grain sorghum. The constructed strain was characterized and evaluated with shake flask cultures. Fermentation experiments using 2% synthetic glucose were performed in a 2 L fermenter and a high succinic acid yield of 1.1 g/g glucose was obtained. Shake flask experiments to demonstrate the utilization of sorghum-glucose and corn steep liquor as fermentation media substitutes were also performed. A succinic acid yield of 1.1 g/g of glucose consumed was obtained, which was identical to the yield when synthetic glucose was used. Results from batch and fed-batch fermenter experiments using renewable sugars will be discussed in the presentation.