Claims
- 1. A method for producing carboxylic acids comprising the steps of:
- a) inoculating a medium having a carbon source with a carboxylic acid-producing organism having a biomass;
- b) incubating said organism in an aerobic atmosphere to promote rapid growth of said organism thereby increasing said biomass of said organism;
- c) controllably releasing oxygen to maintain said aerobic atmosphere;
- d) controllably feeding said organism a solution containing said carbon source to maintain a concentration of said carbon source within said medium of about 0.5 g/L up to about 1 g/L;
- e) depriving said aerobic atmosphere of said oxygen to produce an anaerobic atmosphere to cause said organism to undergo anaerobic metabolism;
- f) controllably feeding said organism said solution containing said carbon source to maintain a concentration of said carbon source within said medium of .gtoreq.1 g/L; and
- g) converting said carbon source to carboxylic acids using said anaerobic metabolism of said organism.
- 2. The method of claim 1 wherein said organism is selected from the group consisting of Escherichia coli and Lactobacillus bacteria.
- 3. The method of claim 1 wherein said organism is osmotolerant whereby said organism is capable of producing organic acids without any inhibition of the metabolism of said organism.
- 4. The method of claim 2 wherein said Escherichia coli is AFP-111.
- 5. The method of claim 2 wherein said organism is an Escherichia coli bacteria derived from a parent organism lacking the genes for pyruvate formate lyase and lactate dehydrogenase.
- 6. The method of claim 1 wherein said organism is genetically manipulated to express an enzyme which enables said organism to convert pyruvate to dicarboxylic acid.
- 7. The method of claim 6 wherein said enzyme is malic enzyme.
- 8. The method of claim 7 wherein said organism using said anaerobic metabolism produces succinic acid, acetic acid and ethanol, wherein said succinic acid being the main product.
- 9. The method of claim 7 wherein said organism using said anaerobic metabolism produces malic acid, acetic acid and ethanol, wherein said malic acid being the main product.
- 10. The method of claim 7 wherein said organism using said anaerobic metabolism produces fumaric acid, acetic acid and ethanol, wherein said fumaric acid being the main product.
- 11. A method for producing carboxylic acids comprising:
- a) inoculating a medium having a carbon source with a carboxylic acid-producing organism having a biomass;
- b) incubating said organism in an environment having a maintained pH value and having an aerobic atmosphere to promote rapid growth of said organism thereby increasing said biomass of said organism;
- c) controllably releasing oxygen to maintain said aerobic atmosphere;
- d) controllably feeding said organism a solution containing said carbon source to maintain a concentration of said carbon source within said medium of about 0.5 g/L up to about 1 g/L;
- e) transferring said organism having increased biomass to a production fermenter having an anaerobic atmosphere to cause said organism to undergo anaerobic metabolism;
- f) controllably feeding said organism a solution containing said carbon source to maintain a concentration of said carbon source within said production fermenter of .gtoreq.1 g/L; and
- g) converting said carbon source to carboxylic acids using said anaerobic metabolism of said organism.
- 12. The method of claim 11 wherein said organism is selected from the group consisting of Escherichia coli and Lactobacillus bacteria.
- 13. The method of claim 11 wherein said organism is osmotolerant whereby said organism is capable of producing organic acids without any inhibition of the metabolism of said organism.
- 14. The method of claim 12 wherein said Escherichia coli is AFP-111.
- 15. The method of claim 12 wherein said organism is an Escherichia coli strain derived from a parent organism lacking the genes for pyruvate formate lyase and lactate dehydrogenase.
- 16. The method of claim 11 wherein said organism is genetically manipulated to express an enzyme which enables said organism to convert pyruvate to dicarboxylic acid.
- 17. The method of claim 16 wherein said enzyme is malic enzyme.
- 18. The method of claim 17 wherein said organism using said anaerobic metabolism produces succinic acid, acetic acid and ethanol, wherein said succinic acid being the main product.
- 19. The method of claim 17 wherein said organism using said anaerobic metabolism produces malic acid, acetic acid and ethanol, wherein said malic acid being the main product.
- 20. The method of claim 17 wherein said organism using said anaerobic atmosphere produces fumaric acid, acetic acid and ethanol, wherein said fumaric acid being the main product.
CROSS-REFERENCED APPLICATIONS AND PATENTS
The present application is a Continuation-In-Part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/556,805 filed Nov. 2, 1995, incorporated herein by reference.
Government Interests
This invention was made with Government support under contract DE-AC05-96OR22464 awarded by the U.S. Department of Energy to Lockheed Martin Energy Research Corporation, and under contract no. W-31-109-ENG-38 between the U.S. Department of Energy and the University of Chicago representing Argonne National Laboratory, the Government has certain rights in this invention.
US Referenced Citations (13)
Non-Patent Literature Citations (2)
Entry |
Fairoz Mat-Jan, Kiswar Y. Alam and David P. Clark, "Mutants of Escherichia coli Deficient in the Fermentative Lactate Dehydrogenase", J. of Bacteriology, Jan. 1989, pp. 342-348. |
Lene Juel Rasmussen, Peter Lange Moller and Tove Atlung, Carbon Metabolism Regulates Expression of the pfl (Pyruvate Formate-Lyase) Gene in Escherchia coli, J. of Bacteriology, Oct. 1991, pp. 6390-6397. |
Continuation in Parts (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
556805 |
Nov 1995 |
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