Preparation of A. succinogenes immobilized microfiber membrane for repeated production of succinic acid

A new applicability of cell-immobilized system for biological production of target chemical was reported in this work. A. succinogenes CCTCC M2012036 was immobilized on positively charged polypropylene microfiber membrane by physical interaction and were used for converting glucose into succinic acid. Glucose consumption and succinic acid production kinetics were investigated for optimizing the operational parameters. The cell-immobilized membrane presented good reuse stability, and six cycles of fermentation without activity loss were realized with an average succinic acid yield of 0.83 g/g. Importantly, a biofilm was formed which favored the production of succinic acid. A microfiber membrane bioreactor was further constructed with the cell-immobilized membrane to perform fermentation in a larger scale, and the yield and productivity of succinic acid were 0.82 g/g and 1.04 g L−1 h−1 using a fed-batch strategy. By combining mesoporous support with biotechnological techniques, this work offered a prospect of adopting reusable cells feasible for industry.