Biochemical production of succinic acid from biorefinery glycerol: De-risking, scale-up, and feasibility

该项目旨在通过发酵主要的生物柴油副产品粗甘油生产高附加值的化学品琥珀酸（SA）。目前，SA是由石油化工产品或葡萄糖发酵生产的。粗甘油的生物转化将使这种可再生的侧流增值，显着提高生物炼制的经济性，并提供一种经济，可持续的SA生产路线，减少碳足迹。将采用一系列规模的实验方法，计算工具和市场分析的组合，以证明下游工艺的可行性，根据市场标准对琥珀酸产品进行基准测试，优化发酵工艺的规模扩大，并确定和吸引商业最终用户。其目的是在降低拟议生物工艺的风险方面迈出重要一步，以吸引工业投资，从而更接近其工业吸收和应用。

This project addresses the production of succinic acid (SA), a top-added value chemical, through the fermentation of crude glycerol, the main biodiesel byproduct. Currently, SA is manufactured from petrochemicals or by fermentation of glucose. The bioconversion of crude glycerol will valorise this renewable side-stream, significantly improving the biorefinery economy, and providing an economic, sustainable SA production route with reduced carbon footprint. A combination of experimental methods at a range of scales, computational tools, and market analysis will be employed in order to: prove the feasibility of the downstream process, benchmark the succinic acid product against market standards, optimise the scale up of the fermentation process and identify and engage commercial end users. The aim is to make a significant step in reducing the risk of the proposed bioprocess to attract industrial investments, hence moving closer towards its industrial uptake and application.