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Production of Long-chain Dicarboxylic Acid by Fermentation 　　

Long-chain dicarboxylic acid is a kind of organic acid that contains eight or more carbon-atoms and two carboxyl functional groups, witch is usually called DCA. Its general formula is:

HOOC -(CH₂)_n-COOH        n≥6

A series of DCA, ranging from DCA₁₀ to DCA₁₈ can be produced by fermentation from correspond n-paraffin. The conventional production methods based on chemistry have been replaced by fermentation methods, which have the characteristics of high efficiency, mild conditions and good availability of raw materials, etc. It is an important application of biotechnology in petrochemical industry.
　　DCA are high-tech products with excellent application prospects because of their low cost and high output value. For example 1,13-tridecanedioic acid (DCA₁₃, Brassylic acid) is a very important chemical intermediates, which is mainly used as feedstocks for preparation of perfume, hot melt adhesive, engineering plastics and high quality lubricants, etc. With the increasing demand for these down-stream products, the need for DCA is also increasing steadily.
　　The main raw material for producing DCA by fermentation is n-paraffin, which can be obtained from petroleum paraffin by distillation. 
　　Since 1986, FRIPP has made great progress on the research of DCA fermentation and the development of its down-stream products. The fermentation conditions were studied in laboratory fermentor and in pilot plant. Now a commercial plant with 150t/a capacity has been set up to produce a series of DCA. The quality of tridecanedioic acid is listed in table1.  

Table 1   Specifications of Tridecanedioic Acid