The increasing energy demand and cost of petroleum have spurred the need for alternative sustainable feedstocks.  In the Satake Centre for Grain Process Engineering, a novel cost-competitive wheat-based biorefining strategy for the production of generic fermentation feedstocks has been developed. These could be converted into platform chemicals, biodegradable polymers and biofuels via microbial bioconversion.  Wheat is used as raw material and we aim to exploit all wheat components into both value-added end-products and precursors for chemical synthesis.  Facultative anaerobe Actinobacillus succinogenes (ATCC 55618) efficiently utilised the nutrient-rich streams from cereal grains for succinic acid production without the need of enrichment.  The bacterial fermentation involves CO₂ sequestration and promises a step towards acquiring a sustainable future. 

This study presents different feedstock formulation strategies based on the production of wheat hydrolysates and fungal autolysate for the microbial production of succinic acid.  Batch fermentations were conducted by using semi-defined medium containing commercial glucose and a complex medium containing wheat flour hydrolysate.  Results showed that succinic acid could be successfully produced on the flour hydrolysate without inhibition by the complex medium.   Also, yields were similar with both media (0.64 g succinic acid/g glucose) while a higher productivity (1.01 g/L.h) was obtained with the hydrolysate.  When fermentations were carried out with wheat-derived feedstock and an addition of 30 g/L MgCO₃, 62.6 g/L succinic acid was produced from 100 g/L initial glucose.  The results of these studies clearly demonstrate that the wheat-derived feedstock contains all the essential nutrients for A. succinogenes growth and succinic acid production.