Enhancement of Succinate Production by Organic Solvents, Detergents, and Vegetable Oils

Bioconversion of fumarate to succinate by Enterococcus sp. RKY1 was enhanced when Tween surfactant, organic solvent, and vegetable oil were added to the fermentation medium. The maximum amount of succinate produced was 80.4 g/l after a 24 h incubation when Tween 80 was added to the culture to a final concentration of 0.1 g/l. Triton X-l00 was observed to damage the enzymes and inhibit the formation of succinate. The addition of 10 ml/l acetone increased the production of succinate by 110%. Vegetable oils used were found to be effective for succinate production as well as for the cell growth. Similar productivity increases were obtained with corn oil and Tween 80 plus biotin with the total productivity being 3.6 g/l/h, and 3.5 g/l/h, respectively, which was approximately 25% greater than that of the control. Therefore, these results indicate that com oil can be considered the most appropriate agent for the production of succinate where succinic acid was primarily used in the production of food, medicine, and cosmetics.