Fuels, Chemicals and Metals from Bioprocesses

4427773

METHOD FOR PRODUCING GGLUTAMIC ACID BY

FERMENTATION

Takayasu Tsuchida, Kiyoshi Miwa. Shigeru Nakamori, Haruo Momose, Kawasaki. Japan assigned to Ajinomoto Company Incorporated

An L-glutamic acid producing microorganism which is constructed by incorporation into a recipient strain of the genus Brevibacterium or Corynebacterium of a hybrid plasmid having in- serted therein a DNA fragment with genetic in- formation related to L-glutamic acid production which is derived from a donor strain of the genus Brevibacterium or Corynebacterium, is useful for the production of high levels of L-glutamic acid by fermentation.

4427774

PROCESS FOR PRODUCING L-THREONINE

Hideaki Yukawa, Terukazu Nara, Yoshihiro Takayama, Ibaraki, Japan assigned to Mit- subishi Petrochemical Co Ltd

L-threonine is produced by aerobically culturing a bacterium belonging to the genus Ac- inetobacter, which utilizes ethanol and has an ability to produce and accumulate L-threonine, in a culture medium in which ethanol is the main carbon source to produce and accumulate L- threonine in a culture liquor and recovering L- threonine from the culture liquor. The bacterium is preferably a mutant of Acinetobacter cal- coaceticus YK-IO11 (Ferm-P No. 5910).

4440856

PROCESS FOR PRODUCING L-GLUTAMIC ACID

Toshihide Nakanishi. Mamoru Kohata, Minoru Sakurai, Hofu, Japan assigned to Kyowa Hakko Kogyo Co Ltd

L-glutamic acid is produced by culturing a mutant microorganism belonging to the genus Corynebacterium or Brevibacterium which mutant is temperature-sensitive remediable with an unsaturated higher fatty acid. L-glutamic acid is recovered from the culture liquor.

4442210

PROCESS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF

FERMENTATION ETHANOL

Ralph M Dessau, Werner 0 Haag assigned to Mobil Oil Corporation

Ethanol is recovered from a fermentation mix- ture by contact with a crystalline zeolite sorbent exemplified by ZSM-5, followed by desorption of concentrated ethanol. In one embodiment of this invention, the sorption step is conducted during fermentation to maintain the ethanol concentration in the fermenting mixture at a concentration below that which is toxic to the fermenting organism.

4442211

METHOD FOR PRODUCING HYDROGEN AND OXYGEN BY

USE OF ALGAE

Elias Greenbaum assigned to The United States of America as represented by the United States Department of Energy

Efficiency of process for producing H2 by sub- jecting algae in an aqueous phase to light irradia- tion is increased by culturing algae which has been bleached during a first period of irradiation in a culture medium in an aerobic atmosphere until it has regained color and then subjecting this algae to a second period of irradiation wherein hydrogen is produced at an enhanced rate.

140

PATENT ABSTRACTS 141

4443543

SEMIBATCH ETHANOL PRODUCTION

Peter L Rogers, David E Tribe, Northwood, Australia assigned to Unisearch Limited

A process for the production of ethanol from a carbohydrate substrate such as glucose com- prising culturing a flocculant strain of Zymomonas mobilis such as ATCC 31822, in a semi-batch manner periodically allowing the flocculent cells to settle, removing the ethanol containing supematant and introducing fresh fermentation medium into the fermentor.

4443544

ETHANOL PRODUCTION IN A CONTINUOUS PROCESS WITH

CELLRECYCLE

Peter L Rogers, David E Tribe, Northwood, Australia assigned to Unisearch Limited

An improved method for the production of ethanol from a fermentable carbohydrates such as glucose, fructose or sucrose using the bac- terium Zymomonas mobilis which method in- volves continuously culturing the bacterium in a culture medium containing the fermentable car- bohydrate, continuously drawing off a portion of the culture medium and replacing that portion with fresh culture medium, separating from the removed portion of the culture medium cells of Zymomonas mobilis contained therein and returning those cells to the culture medium and recovering the ethanol contained in the portion of the culture medium from which the cells have been removed. It has been found that this method results in greatly improved ethanol pro- duction without the disadvantages which have been found when yeasts are continuously cul- tured.

4444885

PROCESS FOR PRODUCING L-PROLINE BY FERMENTATION

Toshihide Nakanishi, Hiroshi Hagino, Hofu, Japan assigned to Kyowa Hakko Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha

A process for producing L-proline by fermenta- tion, comprising culturing a microorganism

belonging to the genus selected from Corynebac- terium. Arthrobacter, Brevibacterium, Micro- bacterium and Saccharomyces and capable of producing L-proline in a culture medium to ac- cumulate L-proline in the cultured liquor and recovering L-proline therefrom. which process is characterized by the use of a culture medium containing at least one member selected from L- glutamic acid and D-. L- and DL- pyrrohdonecarboxylic acid in association with a carbon source, nitrogen source and inorganic compounds.

4447534

METHOD OF PRODUCING ETHANOL THROUGH FERMENTATION OF CARBOHYDRATES

Otto Moebus, Michae Teuber, Helmut Reuter, Kiel Russee, Federal Republic Of Germany

Residue-free production of ethanol and unicel- lular protein in a gas-fluidized bed, in which ethanol production takes place in a gas-fluidized bed (stirred fluidized bed, fluid column), the par- ticle fraction of which consists of a wet micro- organism mass, e.g. Saccharomyces cerevisiae. A nutrient solution with fermentable carbohy- drates is sprayed onto the fluidized particles. The ethanol, which evaporates with the water, is pre- cipitated in a condenser on the discharge side, so that the fluidized bed serves as bio-reactor as well as one-stage distillation plant (together with the cooling system). Thus, the mash column, which is normally used for alcohol production with the submersion method, is not needed in the present invention. In place of the residue, a protein-rich product with 30-40x dry mass is formed, which, during continuous operation, can be removed at certain intervals from the bio- reactor and can be dried to the desired degree. The propagation of the microorganisms can be regulated through the oxygen content of the gas phase: the ethanol production can be regulated through the infeed of the nutrient solution. The gas used for fluidization is recirculated into the

142 PATENT ABSTRACTS

bed. The partial oxygen pressure can be con- trolled by adding other gases to the air, such as nitrogen or carbon dioxide, particularly carbon dioxide, which forms the yeast itself.

4451564

TRANSFORMATION OF STEROLS BY FERMENTATION

Alfred Struve, Frank F Hill, Joachim Schindler, Hilden, Federal Republic Of Germany assigned to Henkel KGaA

This invention relates to a process for the pre- paration of a concentrate containing sterol com- pounds of natural origin, which concentrate is suitable as a starting material for the trans- formation of sterol compounds by fermentation, which comprises the steps of: (a) transesterifying distillation residues from the processing of natural fats and/or oils with a lower alcohol; and (b) subjecting the product of step (a) to molecular distillation to produce a main fraction having a content of up to about 50 percent by weight of sterol compounds. The invention also relates to sterol concentrates produced thereby and their transformation to valuable secondary products.

4451566

METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR ENZYMATICALLY PRODUCING ETHANOL

Donald B Spencer

Methods and apparatus are provided for the en- zymatic production of ethanol from fermentable sugars. A complete sequence of enzymes for catalyzing the conversion of fermentable sugars to ethanol is retained in a plurality of reaction zones. Fermentable sugar solution is sequen- tially passed through the zones, and ethanol is recovered from the last zone. Necessary coen- zymes and cofactors are added to the solution in the various zones, and means are provided for recovering and, if necessary, modifying the coen- zymes pnor to reintroduction in the various zones.