Techno-economic analysis of succinic acid production using adsorption from fermentation medium

Fermentation of renewable resources is becoming increasingly attractive for production of C4 bulk chemicals. One interesting C4 building block is succinic acid. This study presents a conceptual design of a process for succinic acid production. The process begins with aerobic fermentation using a hypothetical Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain at pH 4. After centrifugation the broth is sent to adsorption. A ZSM-5 zeolite is used to preferentially adsorb succinic acid. Desorption is performed using hot water. This water is then flashed off, and succinic acid is crystallized and dried. The plant capacity is set to 30 kt a−1 according to the projected demand. Cane sugar is the selected feedstock. The calculated selling price of succinic acid is 2.26 $ kg−1 with the potential to decrease to values as low as 1 $ kg−1. Major recommendations include experimental investigation of the feasibility of the metabolic engineering of the S. cerevisiae strain, of the fermentation parameters, of the crystallization, and of the process integration.