Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Napoleon Ballroom C-D, 3rd fl (Sheraton New Orleans)
Acrylic acid and esters (produced from 3-hydroxypropionic acid) are important chemical building blocks and their homopolymers and copolymers find applications in superabsorbents, detergents, dispersants, flocculants, etc. The most common process for the production of crude acrylic acid is via the two-step oxidation of propylene followed by purification via crystallisation or various distillation approaches in petrochemical industry. However, the continued increase in energy prices, coupled with feedstock supply and environmental concerns put up requirements for a more feasible approach. 3-hydroxypropionic acid has been identified as one of the top 12 platform chemicals that can be produced in fermentation routes and it can serve as a platform for the production of 3-carbon intermediates which can easily be converted to acrylic acid upon dehydration. In the current research, the carbohydrate rich side-streams from pulping industry were used as potential substrate to produce 3-HPA. The fermentability of the side streams was evaluated according to their influence on yeast fermentation performance. The results showed that the side-streams can be easily fermented after the fermentation process optimization. In addition, physiological responses to four weak organic acids (formic acid, levulinic acid, 4-hydroxybenzioic acid and cinnamic acid) present in side streams as well as the final product 3-HPA are under investigating in both aerobic and anaerobic batch cultures of S.cerevisiae grown at pH 3.0 and 5.0.