丙酸是最重要的前30种化工原料之一，我国每年需要大量进口；使用微生物发酵的方法合成丙酸已成为国内外一个重要研究方向，但它需要消耗大量石化原料并且操作过程复杂。针对这些问题，本项目研究了资源化利用厨余垃圾在无需无菌操作的开放系统中厌氧发酵合成丙酸的新方法。它通过对厨余垃圾发酵产丙酸过程的研究，发现代谢中间产物是影响丙酸合成的关键因素，得出有利于丙酸产生的代谢中间产物组成和构型，并从关键酶、微生物生理生态及功能基因表达等方面揭示代谢中间产物组成和构型变化影响丙酸产生的微生物机理。在此基础上，通过优化厌氧发酵系统的微环境、操作条件及生长因子，使发酵过程产生有利于丙酸合成的代谢中间产物，最终实现厨余垃圾在开放系统高效发酵产丙酸的目标。它的研究将丰富有机物厌氧处理的原理，为厨余垃圾生物资源化利用及丙酸生物合成提供新的思路和方法，具有较高的学术和应用价值。

Propionic acid is one of the top 30 most important chemical raw materials, but large quantities of propionic acid need to be imported each year. Production of propionic acid by fermentation has become one of the most important research directions, but the current method consumes a large number of petrochemical raw materials with complicated operational procedures. In this project food waste is used as the substrate for propionic acid biosynthesis in an open anaerobic fermentation system. By the study of the fermentation process of propionic acid production from food waste, the metabolic intermediates are found to be the key factors affecting the synthesis of propionic acid, and the favored metabolic intermediate components and configurations are determined. The microbial mechanism is revealed by investigating the key enzymes, the microbial physiology and ecology, and the functional gene expression. The efficient production of propionic acid from food waste in a open fermentation system can be achieved by optimizing the anaerobic fermentation micro-environments, the operational conditions, and the growth factors to favor the generation of metabolic intermediates with the desired components and configuration. The study of this project will enrich the principles of anaerobic treatment of organic matter, and provide new ways and methods for bio-reuse of food waste and biosynthesis of propionic acid, which has high academic and application values.