TBP01x Best Practice 4a Industrial Process Development for Succinic Acid: Introduction
Hi, my name is Mickel Jansen, I m a senior scientist fermentation within the DSM
biotechnology centre. What I would like to do here with you is to give you some more
insight in the considerations for industrial process development and illustrate that with a
real working case being succinic acid.
But first I would like to spend a few words on the company I work for, DSM. DSM is a very
dynamic company that besides having an economic viable business also wants to provide
brighter lives to people, not only today but also in the future. To accomplish this DSM uses
its unique competences in both life sciences and material sciences and with that creates
synergy.
DSM really has a long track record in Biotechnology. It started basically around 1870 with
the yeast and spirit plant in Delft for the production of yeast and alcohol. Since then more
biotech related products have been developed and also commercialized. The genetic tools
developed since the 80s enabled us to use these for the development of our own products
such as antibiotics, vitamins etc. And in the last decade , since 2005 DSM initiated a large
program in the field of industrial biotech, related to the use of renewable feedstocks for the
production of fuels and chemicals. Succinic acid is an example of that.
Looking at the history, DSM originated one century ago as a mining company in the
Netherlands, and transformed itself throughout the decades from a mining company into a
chemical company and currently we call ourselves a life sciences and material sciences
company. DSM has become a very international company as you can see in this graph, we
are located all over the world. Recently we focus more on Asia and Latin America, becoming
important new and growing markets for us.
So this is some background information on DSM; from now we will focus on succinic acid.
You might wonder why we are interested in succinic acid. Well, succinic acid is a very
versatile molecule and can be used for many applications. Currently, the majority of succinic
acid is produced via a petrochemical based process and is used for food, pharmaceuticals,
coatings and metal plating. But we at DSM aim for a biobased process which can replace the
traditional chemical process. By using an agricultural feedstock as substrate we would be
able to produce bio succinic acid, or as our product is called bio succinium.
For this biosuccinium we foresee many different applications. The first application we focus
on would be the biodegradable plastics called PBS, in fact a co polymer of succinic acid and
butanediol. This is a new product which can be used for agriculture filming, food packaging
and multiple other applications. The second application we focus on is polyurethane. This
product already exists, however now we want to replace the used adipic acid which is
petrochemical based. So with succinic acid we would like to  green this product.
Applications are also very diverse in this field like shoe soles, car seats, but also isolation
foams. The third product we are focussing on, which can be successful if cost prices are low
enough, is butanediol. Succinic acid can be used to create this product, which has already a
big existing megaton market in itself. So that would open up much bigger volumes for bio
succinium.
Succinic acid is used in many different industries, but currently the market is relatively small
with a yearly demand of approximately 35 kiloton.
However, when a bio based production process for succinic acid would be made available
and successful we foresee a potential market in 2020 of around 2 Megaton.
As the potential is present to become a bulk chemical , we decided not to develop and
produce this alone. Therefore, we joined forces with a partner that has basically the same
vision as us and preferably with complementary competences to create added value. We
found that partner in Roquette This company is one of the top manufacturers in the world
for renewable starch and starch derived products and has already experience in bio
refineries. So how did we approach this bio based succinic acid production project?
Really at the start of the project targets for the production process were defined. The first
target is to develop a fermentation based process that is at least cost competitive with
petrochemical based succinic acid, otherwise there would be no demand. Secondly, we want
to have the most sustainable process possible, with the lowest carbon footprint. Thirdly, we
need a high quality product, essential for our envisaged polymer applications. To accomplish
this, we choose for a fed batch fermentation process with renewable sugar as feedstock.
To realize the lowest possible cost, we defined several key performance indicators that
impact the overall cost price, also known as cost of goods. Some of these kpi s might already
sound familiar from previous units. A first important indicator is the process yield. This
includes the succinic acid production yield, so the net conversion of sugar into the product
of interest, the cellular growth, being the amount of microbial biomass needed and the
downstream process yield. Secondly there is productivity, dependent on the applied
biomass concentration and the specific production flux qp. A third important indicator is the
final succinic acid concentration in the fermenter. And the fourth element is the amount of
titrant needed to control the pH in the fermentation process.
In the next unit I will explain more how important these performance indicators are, how
they interact and how to choose your microorganism for production, crucial for your
industrial process development. Finally, I will show you some results we obtained in this
project. So see you next unit!