A statistical method for enhancing the production of succinic acid from Escherichia coli under anaerobic conditions

Advances in sustainable approaches utilizing orange peel waste to produce highly value-added bioproducts

Orange peel waste (OPW), a discarded part of orange fruit, is a rich source of essential constituents that can be transformed into highly value-added bioproducts. OPW is being generated in million tonnes globally and returns to the environment without complete benefit. Thus, a high volume of annually produced OPW in the industry requires effective valorization. In this regard, limited data is available that summarizes the broader spectrum for the sustainable fate of OPW to produce value-added bioproducts. The main objective of this treatise is to explore the sustainable production of bioproducts from OPW. Therefore, this review covers all the aspects of OPW, from its production to complete valorization. The review encompasses the extraction technologies employed for extracting different valuable bioactive compounds, such as: essential oil (EO), pectin, and carotenoids, from OPW. Furthermore, the suitability of bioconversion technologies (digestion/fermentation) in transforming OPW to other useful bioproducts, such as: biochemicals (lactic acid and succinic acid), biopolysaccharides (xanthan and curdlan gum), and bioenergy (biomethane and bioethanol) is discussed. Also, it includes the concept of OPW-based biorefineries and their development that shall play a definite role in future to cover demands for: food, chemicals, materials, fuels, power, and heat. Lastly, this review focuses on OPW-supplemented functional food products such as: beverages, yogurts, and extruded products. In conclusion, insights provided in this review maximize the potential of OPW for commercial purposes, leading to a safe, and waste-free environment.

Resource recovery and circular economy from organic solid waste using aerobic and anaerobic digestion technologies

With the inevitable rise in human population, resource recovery from waste stream is becoming important for a sustainable economy, conservation of the ecosystem as well as for reducing the dependence on the finite natural resources. In this regard, a bio-based circular economy considers organic wastes and residues as potential resources that can be utilized to supply chemicals, nutrients, and fuels needed by mankind. This review explored the role of aerobic and anaerobic digestion technologies for the advancement of a bio-based circular society. The developed routes within the anaerobic digestion domain, such as the production of biogas and other high-value chemicals (volatile fatty acids) were discussed. The potential to recover important nutrients, such as nitrogen through composting, was also addressed. An emphasis was made on the innovative models for improved economics and process performance, which include co-digestion of various organic solid wastes, recovery of multiple bio-products, and integrated bioprocesses.

Optimization of process conditions for tannin content reduction in cassava leaves during solid state fermentation using Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Cassava leaves are a crucial source of alternative protein resources for both humans and livestock in developing societies in African and Asian countries that do not have easy access to available protein sources. Hence, cassava has the capacity to promote the economic development of these countries and provide food security. However, it has some disadvantages due to the anti-nutrient compounds present in its tissues, which limits the nutritional value of cassava leaves. Thus, proper processing of cassava leaves is essential in order to reduce the anti-nutrients to a safer limit before utilization. This study focuses on reducing the tannin content of cassava leaves during solid-state fermentation using Saccharomyces cerevisiae. In addition, the Box-Behnken design of the Response Surface Methodology was applied to optimize various process parameters, such as carbon concentration, nitrogen concentration, moisture content, and incubation time for maximum reduction of tannin content in cassava leaves. A quadratic model was developed for the reduction of tannin content, which resulted in a perfect fit of the experimental data (p < 0.01). The optimal conditions were found at 1.4% (w/w) of carbon concentration, 0.55% (w/w) of nitrogen concentration, 57% (v/w) moisture content, and an incubation time of 96 h. The minimum tannin content obtained under these conditions was 0.125%, which indicated a reduction of 89.32 % in tannin content. Conversely, the protein content was increased with a further increase in fermentation time from 24 to 96 h (from 10.08 to 14.11-16.07 %). Furthermore, the ability of Saccharomyces cerevisiae to produce tannase under solid-state fermentation of cassava leaves was also studied. The maximum yield was obtained with an enzyme activity of 0.53 U/gds after 72 h of incubation.

Process Optimization Study of Zn2+ Adsorption on Biochar-Alginate Composite Adsorbent by Response Surface Methodology (RSM)

A novel biochar alginate composite adsorbent was synthesized and applied for removal of Zn2+ ions from aqueous solution. Kinetics, equilibrium and thermodynamic studies showed the suitability of the adsorbent. From a Langmuir isotherm study, the maximum monolayer adsorption capacity of the composite adsorbent was found to be 120 mg/g. To investigate the effect of process variables like initial Zn2+ concentration (25–100 mg/L), adsorbent dose (0.4–8 g/L) and temperature (298–318 K) on Zn2+ adsorption, response surface methodology (RSM) based on a three independent variables central composite design of experiments was employed. A quadratic model equation was developed to predict the relationship between the independent variables and response for maximum Zn2+ removal. The optimization study reveals that the initial Zn2+ concentration and adsorbent dose were the most effective parameters for removal of Zn2+ due to higher magnitude of F-statistic value which effects to a large extent of Zn2+ removal. The optimum physicochemical condition for maximum removal of Zn2+ was determined from the RSM study. The optimum conditions are 43.18 mg/L initial metal ion concentration, 0.062 g adsorbent dose and a system temperature of 313.5 K. At this particular condition, the removal efficiency of Zn2+ was obtained as 85%.

Media optimization for economic succinic acid production by Enterobacter sp. LU1

Enterobacter sp. LU1 could efficiently convert glycerol to succinic acid under anaerobic conditions after the addition of lactose. In this study, media constituents affecting both Enterobacter sp. LU1 biomass and succinic acid production were investigated employing response surface methodology (RSM) with central composite design. Statistical methods led to the development of an efficient and inexpensive microbiological media based on crude glycerol, whey permeate as carbon sources and urea as a nitrogen source. The optimized production of bacterial biomass in aerobic conditions was predicted and the interactive effects between crude glycerol, urea and magnesium sulfate were investigated. As a result, a model for predicting the concentration of bacterial biocatalyst biomass was developed with crude glycerol as a sole carbon source. In addition, it was observed that the interactive effect between crude glycerol and urea was statistically significant. Response surface methodology was also employed to develop the model for predicting the concentration of succinic acid produced. Validity of the model was confirmed during verification experiments wherein actual results differed from predicted values by 0.77%. The applied statistical methods proved the feasibility for anaerobic succinic acid production on crude glycerol without expensive yeast extract addition. In conclusion, the RSM method can provide valuable information for succinic acid scale-up fermentation using Enterobacter sp. LU1.

Protein and metabolic engineering for the production of organic acids

Organic acids are natural metabolites of living organisms. They have been widely applied in the food, pharmaceutical, and bio-based materials industries. In recent years, biotechnological routes to organic acids production from renewable raw materials have been regarded as very promising approaches. In this review, we provide an overview of current developments in the production of organic acids using protein and metabolic engineering strategies. The organic acids include propionic acid, pyruvate, itaconic acid, succinic acid, fumaric acid, malic acid and citric acid. We also expect that rapid developments in the fields of systems biology and synthetic biology will accelerate protein and metabolic engineering for microbial organic acid production in the future.

Microbial production of succinic acid using crude and purified glycerol from a Crotalaria juncea based biorefinery

Microbial conversion of crude and purified glycerol obtained in the process of biorefining Crotalaria juncea is carried out to produce succinic acid using Escherichia coli. Batch tests are performed for nine different substrate concentrations of commercial, purified and crude glycerol, in order to observe cell growth and substrate utilization rate. Inhibitory (Halden-Andrew, Aiba-Edward, Tessier type and Andrews) as well as non-inhibitory (Monod, Moser and Tessier) models are fitted to the relationship between specific growth rate and substrate concentration obtained from the growth curves. Considering the inhibition effect, Aiba-Edward model ranked 1 out of 7 in case of two samples and Haldane-Andrew model ranked 1 in case of one sample. Aiba-Edward model gave the best fitment for a large range of concentrations of all the three types of glycerol, crude, purified and laboratory grade. Maximum production of succinic acid is obtained from commercial glycerol at pH 7 and 37.5 °C.

Succinic acid production from xylose mother liquor by recombinant Escherichia coli strain

Succinic acid (1,4-butanedioic acid) is identified as one of important building-block chemicals. Xylose mother liquor is an abundant industrial residue in xylitol biorefining industry. In this study, xylose mother liquor was utilized to produce succinic acid by recombinant Escherichia coli strain SD121, and the response surface methodology was used to optimize the fermentation media. The optimal conditions of succinic acid fermentation were as follows: 82.62 g L⁻¹ total initial sugars, 42.27 g L⁻¹ MgCO₃ and 17.84 g L⁻¹ yeast extract. The maximum production of succinic acid was 52.09 ± 0.21 g L⁻¹ after 84 h with a yield of 0.63 ± 0.03 g g⁻¹ total sugar, approaching the predicted value (53.18 g L⁻¹). It was 1.78-fold of the production of that obtained with the basic medium. This was the first report on succinic acid production from xylose mother liquor by recombinant E. coli strains with media optimization using response surface methodology. This work suggested that the xylose mother liquor could be an alternative substrate for the economical production of succinic acid by recombinant E. coli strains.

Continuous and batch cultures of Escherichia coli KJ134 for succinic acid fermentation: metabolic flux distributions and production characteristics

Background

Succinic acid (SA) has become a prominent biobased platform chemical with global production quantities increasing annually. Numerous genetically modified E. coli strains have been developed with the main aim of increasing the SA yield of the organic carbon source. In this study, a promising SA-producing strain, E. coli KJ134 [Biotechnol. Bioeng. 101:881–893, 2008], from the Department of Microbiology and Cell Science of the University of Florida was evaluated under continuous and batch conditions using D-glucose and CO₂ in a mineral salt medium. Production characteristics entailing growth and maintenance rates, growth termination points and metabolic flux distributions under growth and non-growth conditions were determined.

Results

The culture remained stable for weeks under continuous conditions. Under growth conditions the redox requirements of the reductive tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle was solely balanced by acetic acid (AcA) production via the pyruvate dehydrogenase route resulting in a molar ratio of SA:AcA of two. A maximum growth rate of 0.22 h^-1 was obtained, while complete growth inhibition occurred at a SA concentration of 18 g L^-1. Batch culture revealed that high-yield succinate production (via oxidative TCA or glyoxylate redox balancing) occurred under non-growth conditions where a SA:AcA molar ratio of up to five was attained, with a final SA yield of 0.94 g g^-1. Growth termination of the batch culture was in agreement with that of the continuous culture. The maximum maintenance production rate of SA under batch conditions was found to be 0.6 g g^-1 h^-1. This is twice the maintenance rate observed in the continuous runs.

Conclusions

The study revealed that the metabolic flux of E. coli KJ134 differs significantly for growth and non-growth conditions, with non-growth conditions resulting in higher SA:AcA ratios and SA yields. Bioreaction characteristics entailing growth and maintenance rates, as well as growth termination markers will guide future fermentor designs and improvements.

Optimization of neutral protease production from Bacillus subtilis: using agroindustrial residues as substrates and response surface methodology

Statistically based experimental designs were applied to optimize the fermentation medium and cultural conditions for the maximization of neutral protease using three agroindustrial residues (cassava pulp, soybean meal, and wheat bran) and Bacillus subtilis DES-59. The Plackett-Burman design was used to evaluate the effects of variables such as the concentration of substrates, initial pH, shaker's rotating speed, temperature, inoculum size, and incubation time. Among the eight parameters, three significant variables (cassava pulp, soybean meal, and inoculum size) were selected for the optimization study, in which a central composite design was used to optimize the concentrations of cassava pulp and soybean meal and inoculum size and investigate the interactive effects of the three variables. The optimal parameters obtained from response surface methodology are 37.78 g/L of cassava pulp, 15 g/L of soybean meal, and 6.5% (v/v) of inoculum size, respectively, resulting in a maximum neutral protease activity of 4107 ± 122 U/mL.

Comparative reaction engineering studies for succinic acid production from sucrose by metabolically engineered Escherichia coli in fed-batch-operated stirred tank bioreactors

This study presents a comparative reaction engineering analysis of metabolically engineered sucrose-utilizing Escherichia coli derived from E. coli K12 MG1655 for the anaerobic production of succinic acid. Production capacities of 16 different recombinant strains were evaluated in 48 parallel fed-batch-operated milliliter-scale stirred tank bioreactors (10 mL) with continuous CO₂ sparging. The effects of recombinant sucrose-utilization systems (csc-operon or scr-operon), enhancements of anaplerotic reactions (pck, ppc, maeA, maeB or heterologous pyc) and gene deletions (ldhA, adhE, ack-pta and ptsG) were studied with respect to the overall process performances of the respective recombinant strains. Both sucrose-utilization systems enabled the production of succinic acid from sucrose in E. coli K12 MG1655. Maximum succinate production was observed by overexpressing the pyruvate carboxylase from Corynebacterium glutamicum resulting in a succinate concentration of 26.8 g L⁻¹ after 48 h and a cell-specific productivity of 0.14 g g⁻¹ h⁻¹. Further experiments in a fed-batch-operated laboratory-scale stirred tank bioreactor (2 L) showed that micro-aerobic conditions preceding the anaerobic phase enhance succinic acid production of E. coli K12 MG1655-derived strains. The work demonstrates the importance of parallel approaches within the scope of applied metabolic engineering studies.

Optimization of succinic acid fermentation with Actinobacillus succinogenes by response surface methodology (RSM)

Succinic acid is considered as an important platform chemical. Succinic acid fermentation with Actinobacillus succinogenes strain BE-1 was optimized by central composite design (CCD) using a response surface methodology (RSM). The optimized production of succinic acid was predicted and the interactive effects between glucose, yeast extract, and magnesium carbonate were investigated. As a result, a model for predicting the concentration of succinic acid production was developed. The accuracy of the model was confirmed by the analysis of variance (ANOVA), and the validity was further proved by verification experiments showing that percentage errors between actual and predicted values varied from 3.02% to 6.38%. In addition, it was observed that the interactive effect between yeast extract and magnesium carbonate was statistically significant. In conclusion, RSM is an effective and useful method for optimizing the medium components and investigating the interactive effects, and can provide valuable information for succinic acid scale-up fermentation using A. succinogenes strain BE-1.

Succinic acid production and CO2 fixation using a metabolically engineered Escherichia coli in a bioreactor equipped with a self-inducing agitator

A 5-L bioreactor equipped with a self-induction agitator was applied to a two-stage culture of Escherichia coli NZN111 for succinic acid production in a mineral salts medium. CO(2) was cycled inside this reactor and a sufficient CO(2) transfer rate was maintained with the elimination of CO(2) wasted by ventilation. In the anaerobic stage, much less supplemental CO(2) was required at pH6.3 compared to that at pH7.0, and the succinate yield increased. The performances of succinate production were little changed when compared to a process with CO(2) sparging indicating that use of the self-inducing agitator reduced CO(2) waste. The succinate production process was further coupled with ethanol fermentation by using the CO(2) produced from ethanol fermentation. This integrated system demonstrated that both succinate and bioethanol can be effectively produced while the emission of the CO(2) formed during ethanol fermentation can be greatly reduced.

The Fibrobacteres: an important phylum of cellulose-degrading bacteria

The phylum Fibrobacteres currently comprises one formal genus, Fibrobacter, and two cultured species, Fibrobacter succinogenes and Fibrobacter intestinalis, that are recognised as major bacterial degraders of lignocellulosic material in the herbivore gut. Historically, members of the genus Fibrobacter were thought to only occupy mammalian intestinal tracts. However, recent 16S rRNA gene-targeted molecular approaches have demonstrated that novel centres of variation within the genus Fibrobacter are present in landfill sites and freshwater lakes, and their relative abundance suggests a potential role for fibrobacters in cellulose degradation beyond the herbivore gut. Furthermore, a novel subphylum within the Fibrobacteres has been detected in the gut of wood-feeding termites, and proteomic analyses have confirmed their involvement in cellulose hydrolysis. The genome sequence of F. succinogenes rumen strain S85 has recently suggested that within this group of organisms a "third" way of attacking the most abundant form of organic carbon in the biosphere, cellulose, has evolved. This observation not only has evolutionary significance, but the superior efficiency of anaerobic cellulose hydrolysis by Fibrobacter spp., in comparison to other cellulolytic rumen bacteria that typically utilise membrane-bound enzyme complexes (cellulosomes), may be explained by this novel cellulase system. There are few bacterial phyla with potential functional importance for which there is such a paucity of phenotypic and functional data. In this review, we highlight current knowledge of the Fibrobacteres phylum, its taxonomy, phylogeny, ecology and potential as a source of novel glycosyl hydrolases of biotechnological importance.

Production of succinate and polyhydroxyalkanoate from substrate mixture by metabolically engineered Escherichia coli

The strategic design of this study aimed at producing succinate and polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) from substrate mixture of glycerol/glucose and fatty acid in Escherichia coli. To accomplish this, an E. coli KNSP1 strain derived from E. coli LR1110 was constructed by deletions of ptsG, sdhA and pta genes and overexpression of phaC1 from Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Cultivation of E. coli KNSP1 showed that this strain was able to produce 21.07 g/L succinate and 0.54 g/L PHA (5.62 wt.% of cell dry weight) from glycerol and fatty acid mixture. The generated PHA composed of 58.7 mol% 3-hydroxyoctanoate (3HO) and 41.3 mol% 3-hydroxydecanoate (3HD). This strain would be useful for complete utilization of byproducts glycerol and fatty acid of biodiesel production process.

Biorefinery of waste orange peel

Up to comparatively recently orange peel and the associated residual remnants of membranes resulting from juice extraction represented a significant disposal problem, especially in those regions where orange cultivation is a major industry. However, recent research has demonstrated that orange peel waste represents a potentially valuable resource that can be developed into high value products. These developments are critically reviewed in this article. This includes a summary of the chemical composition of the substrate and an assessment of the range of applications in which the peel is deployed. Utilization as a substrate to produce animal feed, fertilizer, essential oils, pectin, ethanol, methane, industrial enzymes, and single cell protein is discussed. The applications described together with those that will no doubt be developed in the future, represent great opportunities to harness the economical benefit of this agro-industrial waste and to develop even more efficient and sustainable systems. A scheme of integrated utilization of orange peel in a biorefinery approach is discussed together with some prediction of further necessary research.

Medium optimization for antifungal active substances production from a newly isolated Paenibacillus sp. using response surface methodology

Statistics based experimental designs were used to optimize the medium for antifungal active substances production from a newly isolated Paenibacillus polymyxa Cp-S316 in shaker flask cultivation. The medium components having significant effect on the production were first identified using a fractional factorial design. Then steepest ascent method was employed to approach the experimental design space, followed by an application of response surface methodology for further optimization. A quadratic model was found to fit the antifungal active substances production. Response surface analysis revealed that the optimum values of the tested variables for the production of active substances were 12.3 (g/l) lactose, 17.5 (g/l) peptone, 0.4 (g/l) sodium nitrate, 4.5 (g/l) magnesium sulfate and 100 (g/l) potato. A production of 4687.71microg/ml, which was in agreement with the prediction, was observed in verification experiment. In comparison to the production of basal medium, 3.05-fold increase had been obtained.

Optimization of fermentation media for nitrite oxidizing bacteria using sequential statistical design

The sequential statistical experimental design (Plackett-Burman, factorial, response surface and steepest ascent experiment) was applied to optimize the culture medium of nitrite oxidizing bacteria for improving the nitrite oxidizing rate. Estimated optimum medium composition of the nitrite oxidizing rate was as follows: NaHCO3, 1.86gl(-1); NaNO2, 2.04gl(-1); Na2CO3, 0.2gl(-1); NaCl, 0.2gl(-1); KH2PO4, 0.1gl(-1); MgSO4 x7H2O, 0.1gl(-1); and FeSO4 x 7H2O, 0.01gl(-1). The nitrite oxidizing rate was increased by 48.0% and reached a maximum at 859.5+/-8.4mgNO2-N/gMLSS.d as compared to 580.7+/-25.8mgNO2-N/gMLSS x d. In the field trial, 50L of nitrite oxidizing bacteria concentrate (1.99gVSS/L) with 850mgNO2-N/gMLSS x d were added to 0.6ha of the aquaculture water. Nitrite level in all treated ponds remained very low compared to the steady increase observed in all of the control ponds during 7 days.

A statistical approach to study the interactive effects of process parameters on succinic acid production from Bacteroides fragilis

A statistical approach response surface methodology (RSM) was used to study the production of succinic acid from Bacteroides fragilis. The most influential parameters for succinic acid production obtained through one-at-a-time method were glucose, tryptone, sodium carbonate, inoculum size and incubation period. These resulted in the production of 5.4gL(-1) of succinic acid in 48h from B. fragilis under anaerobic conditions. Based on these results, a statistical method, face-centered central composite design (FCCCD) falling under RSM was employed for further enhancing the succinic acid production and to monitor the interactive effect of these parameters, which resulted in a more than 2-fold increase in yield (12.5gL(-1) in 24h). The analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed the adequacy of the model and the verification experiments confirmed its validity. On subsequent scale-up in a 10-L bioreactor using conditions optimized through RSM, 20.0gL(-1) of succinic acid was obtained in 24h. This clearly indicated that the model stood valid even on large scale. Thus, the statistical optimization strategy led to an approximately 4-fold increase in the yield of succinic acid. This is the first report on the use of FCCCD to improve succinic acid production from B. fragilis. The present study provides useful information about the regulation of succinic acid synthesis through manipulation of various physiochemical parameters.

Succinic acid production from Bacteroides fragilis: process optimization and scale up in a bioreactor

We report the effect of different physiological and nutritional parameters on succinic acid production from Bacteroides fragilis. This strain initially produced 0.70gL(-1) of succinic acid in 60h. However, when process optimization was employed, 5.4gL(-1) of succinic acid was produced in medium consisting of glucose (1.5%); tryptone (2.5%); Na(2)CO(3) (1.5%), at pH 7.0, when inoculated with 4% inoculum and incubated at 37 degrees C, 100rpm for 48h. A marked enhancement in succinic acid production was observed when the optimized conditions were employed in a 10L bioreactor. A total of 12.5gL(-1) of succinic acid was produced in 30h. This is approximately 12-fold increase in succinic acid production when compared to the initial un-optimized medium production. This enhancement in succinic acid production may be due to the control of CO(2) supply and the impeller speed. This is also resulted in the reduction of the production time. The present study provides useful information to the industrialists seeking environmentally benign technology for the production of bulk biomolecules through manipulation of various chemical parameters.

Effect of process parameters on succinic acid production in Escherichia coli W3110 and enzymes involved in the reductive tricarboxylic acid cycle

The effect of process optimization on succinic acid production by Escherichia coli W3110 and on enzymes involved in the reverse tricarboxylic acid cycle was studied. Approximately, 7.02 g L–1 of succinic acid was produced in 60 h at pH 7.0 in 500 mL anaerobic bottles containing 300 mL of the medium, wherein the sucrose concentration was 2.5%, the ratio of tryptone to ammonium hydrogen phosphate was 1:1, and the concentration of magnesium carbon ate was 1.5%. When these optimized fermentation conditions were employed in a 10 L bioreactor, 11.2 g L–1 of succinic acid was produced in 48 h. This is a 10-fold increase in succinic acid production from the initial titer of 0.94 g L–1. This clearly indicates the importance of process optimization, where by manipulating the media composition and production conditions, a remarkable increase in the production of the desired biomolecule can be obtained. The production of succinic acid is a multi-step reaction through the reverse tricarboxylic acid cycle. A linear relationship was observed between succinic acid production and the enzyme activities. The enzyme activities were found to increase in the order phospho-enol-pyruvate carboxylase < malate dehydrogenase < fumarase < fumarate reductase. The activity of phospho-enol-pyruvate carboxykinase was also estimated. Results indicate that this enzyme was not a very active participant in the production of succinic acid, since it catalyzes the phosphorylation of oxaloacetic acid to yield phospho-enol-pyruvate.Key words: anaerobic production, succinic acid, Escherichia coli, process optimization, reverse tricarboxylic acid cycle enzymes, fermentation.