metabolic engineering of a succinic acid producer
should allow production of succinic acid to a high concentration
with high productivity and high yield without byproducts formation.
Of course, this strain development process needs to be integrated
with the fermentation process development which also
considers the best available carbon source, optimal cell mass,
and other culture conditions. Furthermore, with the advances in
the development of an efficient downstream process, such as the
amine-based reactive extraction for the purification of succinic
acid, the purification cost can be considerably reduced. Taken
together, the future of fermentative production of succinic acid is
bright considering the increasingly acceptable raw material cost,
large potential market size, the additional advantage of carbon
dioxide fixation, and advances in the development of strategies
for strain improvement, fermentation and purification.