• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.545-550
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• 1998

Succinic acid, valuable $C_4$-dicarboxylic acid as a renewable alternative feedstock, is currently produced commercially by the petrochemical process, but extensive efforts have been devoted to establish the biological process for mass production of succinic acid. In this study, the bioconversion of fumaric acid to succinic acid was investigated. We isolated an Enterococcus sp. RKY1 KCTC 8890P, facultative bacterium, capable of the bioconversion of fumaric acid to soccinic acid very rapidly and efficiently. At batch fermentation, the amount of succinic acid production increased with increase in initial fumaric acid from 40 to 100 g/L. With fumaric acid of 70 g/L, the average specific and volumetric production rate, molar yield were reached up to 0.64 g/g.h, 4.87 g/g.h, and 96.5%, respectively. Maximum concentration of succinic acid of 88.9 g/L was achieved with molar yield of 89% with fumaric acid of 100 g/L in less than 20 hours.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.191-195
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• 1999

Bioconversion of fumarate to succinate by Enterococcus sp. RKY1 was enhanced when Tween surfactant, organic solvent, and vegetable oil were added to the fermentation medium. The maximum amount of succinate produced was 80.4 g/l after a 24 h incubation when Tween 80 was added to the culture to a final concentration of 0.1 g/l. Triton X-l00 was observed to damage the enzymes and inhibit the formation of succinate. The addition of 10 ml/l acetone increased the production of succinate by 110%. Vegetable oils used were found to be effective for succinate production as well as for the cell growth. Similar productivity increases were obtained with corn oil and Tween 80 plus biotin with the total productivity being 3.6 g/l/h, and 3.5 g/l/h, respectively, which was approximately 25% greater than that of the control. Therefore, these results indicate that com oil can be considered the most appropriate agent for the production of succinate where succinic acid was primarily used in the production of food, medicine, and cosmetics.