Adipic Acid

Adipic acid (AA, 1,6-hexanedioic acid) is considered to be the most important dicarboxylic acid from an industrial point of view, and it has been identified as a suitable platform chemical for bio-based production. For example, adipic acid can be used in the production of resins, nylons, lubricants, and plasticizers, as shown in figure 1^[1]. In current industrial processes, adipic acid is synthesized mainly by oxidation of ketone-alcohol oil using 50–60% nitric acid as oxidant and copper/ammonium metavanadate as the catalyst. While this process has a serious pollution to the environment. Biosynthesis of adipic acid from renewable feedstocks is an attractive way to reduce the environmental damage and eliminate the need for fossil fuel precursors.

Fig. 1 The structure of adipic acid and examples of its uses

Synthesis of Adipic Acid

Generally, adipic acid can be obtained from the following kinds of raw material, the sugar platform (derived from starch, cellulose or hemicellulose), the lignin platform (aromatics) and the fatty acid platform (lipid derived). There are two ways to produce biochemical-based adipic acid: i) direct fermentation to adipic acid, or ii) indirect fermentation to adipic acid, namely fermentation to muconic or glucaric acid, followed by chemical hydrogenation^[1].

Recently, a number of different microorganisms, such as Escherichia coli, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Pseudomonas putida, Thermobifida fusca and Klebsiella pneumonia, have been applied to the microbial synthesis of adipic acid and its immediate precursors. Figure 2 illustrates ten biosynthetic pathways from lignocellulosic biomass, lipids and amino acids for the production of adipic acid, muconic acid and glucaric acid, with pathways utilizing lignin, lipids and amino acids as precursors demonstrated^[2].

Fig. 2 Metabolic engineering strategies to biosynthetic adipic acid production

In indirect fermentation, the precursors glucaric acid and cis, cis-muconic acid can be produced by fermentation from glucose, cellulose/hemicellulose or other biomasses. After that, adipic acid can be obtained by chemo-catalytic conversion of the precursors cis, cis-muconic acid or glucaric acid in a hydrogenation process using Pt on carbon or nanoparticles of Ru10Pt2 as catalysts.

Our Adipic Acid

Our adipic acid is produced via fermentation and its basic properties are listed in the following table.

Alfa Chemistry is a professional supplier of biosynthetic adipic acid. For high quality products, professional technical service, use suggestion and latest industry news, please feel free to contact us.

References

1. Karlsson, E., Shin, J. H., Saez-Jimenez, V., Mapelli, V., & Olsson, L. Biobased adipic acid – The challenge of developing the production host. Biotechnology Advances, 36 (2018) 2248-2263.
2. Kruyer, N. S., & Peralta-Yahya, P. Metabolic engineering strategies to bio-adipic acid production. Current Opinion in Biotechnology, 2017, 45, 136–143/li>

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