Factors affecting the competitiveness of bacterial fermentation

Area of Science:

• Biotechnology and metabolic engineering for sustainable chemical production.

Background:

• Growing global emphasis on 'net zero carbon' necessitates sustainable chemical and material production from renewable biomass via biorefineries.
• Systems metabolic engineering has enabled efficient development of microbial strains for overproducing various chemicals and materials, with some reaching industrial scale.
• Fermentation, a critical bioprocess economics factor, has received limited recent research attention.

Purpose of the Study:

• To revisit and discuss factors influencing the competitiveness of bacterial fermentation.
• To connect fermentation competitiveness with advancements in strain development through systems metabolic engineering.
• To explore future perspectives for enhancing fermentation process efficiency.

Main Methods:

• Review of current literature on systems metabolic engineering and microbial strain development.
• Analysis of factors impacting bacterial fermentation economics and competitiveness.
• Discussion of case studies and future research directions in bioprocess engineering.

Main Results:

• Systems metabolic engineering significantly contributes to developing robust microbial strains for bioproducts.
• Bacterial fermentation remains a key, yet under-researched, component in the economic viability of bioprocesses.
• Identifying and addressing fermentation-specific challenges is crucial for realizing the full potential of engineered microbial strains.

Conclusions:

• Integrating advanced strain development with optimized fermentation processes is vital for sustainable biorefineries.
• Further research into bacterial fermentation is essential to improve the cost-effectiveness and scalability of bio-based chemical production.
• Future efforts should focus on synergistic improvements in both microbial systems and fermentation technologies to achieve 'net zero carbon' goals.