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ARS Home » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #108468
Title: ACETIC ACID PRODUCTION BY BRETTANOMYCES YEAST

Author
item Freer, Shelby
item Dien, Bruce
item MATSUDA, S - KUMAMOTO, JAPAN
item Bothast, Rodney

Submitted to: American Society for Microbiology
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/25/2000
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Acetic acid is an important industrial chemical with an annual domestic production rate of about 4.68 billion pounds in 1995. Currently, the commercial production of glacial acetic acid is exclusively by petrochemical routes. A new potential industrial use of acetic acid is the production of environmentally friendly deicers, including calcium magnesium macetate, as a non-corrosive road deicer, and potassium acetate and sodium acetate, as airport runway deicers. Yeast belonging to the genera Brettanomyces and Dekkera are often noted for spoiling cellar and bottled wine through the production of haze, turbidity, and acetic acid. However, we were unable to find any information on the use of these yeasts for the expressed purpose of acetic acid production. We initially screened 52 yeast strains, belonging to these genera, from the ARS Culture Collection, Peoria, IL, for their ability to produce acetic acid. The strains were grown at 28 and 32 deg C in batch culture using either glucose (100 g/L) o ethanol (35 g/L) as the carbon/energy source. In the initial batch culture screen, 22 of the yeast strains produced at least 10 g/L acetic acid from 100 g/L glucose, while 21 strains produced at least 10 g/L acetic acid from 35 g/L ethanol. The six strains that produced the most acetic acid in batch culture were further studied in 1 L fermentations in which the temperature and pH were controlled and optimized. When grown under optimal conditions (pH 5.5, 28 deg C, 1 v/v aeration), Dekkera intermedia NRRL YB-5336 produced 39.5 g/L acetic acid from 100 g/L glucose in 60 hr. During the exponential growth phase, the reactor productivity was about 1.25 g/L/h. The maximum amount of acetic acid produced was 64.9 g/L from 200 g/L glucose in 113 hr.