getpdf NLM PubMed Logo https://doi.org/10.17113/ftb.58.02.20.6356  

Propionic Acid: Method of Production, Current State and Perspectives

Vahid Ranaei1orcid tiny, Zahra Pilevar2orcid tiny, Amin Mousavi Khaneghah3orcid tiny and Hedayat Hosseini4,5*orcid tiny

1Department of Public Health, School of Public Health, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, 6517838695 Hamadan, Iran

2Student Research Committee, Department of Food Sciences and Technology Department, National Nutrition and Food Technology Research Institute, Faculty of Nutrition Sciences and Food Technology, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran 1981619573, Iran

3Department of Food Science, Faculty of Food Engineering, State University of Campinas (UNICAMP), 13083-862 Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil

4Department of Food Sciences and Technology Department, National Nutrition and Food Technology Research Institute, Faculty of Nutrition Sciences and Food Technology, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, 1981619573 Tehran, Iran

5Food Safety Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, 19839-63113 Tehran, Iran

Article history:

Received: 3 May 2019

Accepted: 20 May 2020

cc by

Key words:

propionic acid, Propionibacterium freudenreichii, Propionibacterium acidipropionici, glycerol fermentation

Summary:

During the past years, there has been a growing interest in the bioproduction of propionic acid by Propionibacterium. One of the major limitations of the existing models lies in their low productivity yield. Hence, many strategies have been proposed in order to circumvent this obstacle. This article provides a comprehensive synthesis and review of important biotechnological aspects of propionic acid production as a common ingredient in food and biotechnology industries. We first discuss some of the most important production processes, mainly focusing on biological production. Then, we provide a summary of important propionic acid producers, including Propionibacterium freudenreichii and Propionibacterium acidipropionici, as well as a wide range of reported growth/production media. Furthermore, we describe bioprocess variables that can have impact on the production yield. Finally, we propose methods for the extraction and analysis of propionic acid and put forward strategies for overcoming the limitations of competitive microbial production from the economical point of view. Several factors influence the propionic acid concentration and productivity such as culture conditions, type and bioreactor scale; however, the pH value and temperature are the most important ones. Given that there are many reports about propionic acid production from glucose, whey permeate, glycerol, lactic acid, hemicelluloses, hydrolyzed corn meal, lactose, sugarcane molasses and enzymatically hydrolyzed whole wheat flour, only few review articles evaluate biotechnological aspects, i.e. bioprocess variables.

*Corresponding author: +982122376426
  +982122360660
  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.