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ARS Home » Southeast Area » New Orleans, Louisiana » Southern Regional Research Center » Commodity Utilization Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #359669
Research Project: Developing Technologies that Enable Growth and Profitability in the Commercial Conversion of Sugarcane, Sweet Sorghum, and Energy Beets into Sugar, Advanced Biofuels, and Bioproducts

Location: Commodity Utilization Research

Title: Production of acetoin from sweet sorghum syrup and beet juice via fermentation

Author
item Wright, Maureen
item Klasson, K Thomas
item KIMURA, KEITAROU - National Agricultural Research Organization - Japan (NARO)

Submitted to: Sugar Tech
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/29/2019
Publication Date: 3/13/2020
Publication URL: https://handle.nal.usda.gov/10113/6858475
Citation: Wright, M., Klasson, K.T., Kimura, K. 2020. Production of acetoin from sweet sorghum syrup and beet juice via fermentation. Sugar Tech. 22(2):354-359. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12355-019-00764-3.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12355-019-00764-3

Interpretive Summary: Acetoin is a compound that imparts preferable flavors and odors on commercial products such as foods, beverages, and perfumes. Chemical processing is currently the primary method of acetoin production. There is potential to make production more cost-effective by utilizing bacterial fermentation of sugar substrates. Acetoin production from pure glucose has been previously shown. In this study, raw beet juice (containing sucrose) and sweet sorghum syrup (containing glucose, fructose, and sucrose) are demonstrated to be less expensive alternative sugar sources for acetoin production by the bacterium Bacillus subtilis.

Technical Abstract: Acetoin (3-hydroxybutanone) is a four-carbon ketone-alcohol used in the food industry and is also a precursor to important industrial chemicals such as butanediols and butanols. The compound is naturally produced by some yeasts and bacteria, and also occurs naturally in certain fruits and dairy products. This is our preliminary work with sugar beet and sweet sorghum sugars as starting materials for production of acetoin using the bacterium Bacillus subtilis. The results show that the compound was easily produced at concentrations up to 6% (weight/volume) from diluted sugar crop syrups.