Skip to main content
ARS Home » Southeast Area » New Orleans, Louisiana » Southern Regional Research Center » Commodity Utilization Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #359579
Research Project: Developing Technologies that Enable Growth and Profitability in the Commercial Conversion of Sugarcane, Sweet Sorghum, and Energy Beets into Sugar, Advanced Biofuels, and Bioproducts

Location: Commodity Utilization Research

Title: Nutrient requirements for production of acetoin from sweet sorghum and beet syrups via fermentation

Author
item Wright, Maureen
item Klasson, K Thomas
item KIMURA, KEITAROU - National Food Research Institute - Japan

Submitted to: Meeting Proceedings
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/8/2019
Publication Date: 11/6/2019
Citation: Wright, M., Klasson, K.T., Kimura, K. 2018. Nutrient requirements for production of acetoin from sweet sorghum and beet syrups via fermentation. In: Lima, I., Eggleston, G., Clayton, C. (eds). Proceedings of the Advances in Sugar Crop Processing and Conversion 2018 Conference. 2:268-273. 366 pp.

Interpretive Summary: Acetoin is an aromatic compound that contributes beneficial flavors and odors to commercial products such as foods, beverages, and perfumes. Acetoin is currently produced using chemical synthesis. There is potential to more cost-effectively produce it by utilizing bacterial fermentation of sugar substrates. Acetoin production from pure glucose has been previously shown. In this study, the bacterium Bacillus subtilis was used to make acetoin from raw beet juice (containing sucrose) and sweet sorghum syrup (containing glucose, fructose, and sucrose) in a process that is less expensive than both chemical synthesis and microbial conversion of pure glucose.

Technical Abstract: Acetoin (3-hydroxybutanone) is a four-carbon ketone-alcohol used in the food industry and is also a precursor to important industrial chemicals such as butanediols and butanols. The compound is naturally produced by some yeasts and bacteria, and also occurs naturally in certain fruits and dairy products.This is our preliminary work with sugar beet and sweet sorghum sugars as starting materials for production of acetoin using the bacterium Bacillus subtilis. The results show that the compound was easily produced at concentrations up to 6% (weight/volume) from diluted sugar crop syrups.