Butyric acid production from corn: economics of fermentative production of a novel biobased chemical

Authors: Qureshi, Nasibuddin; MISHRA, SOMESH - University Of Illinois; Liu, Zengshe; Singh, Mukti; Hector, Ronald; EZEJI, THADDEUS - The Ohio State University; Ashby, Richard; Jackson, Michael; SINGH, VIJAY - University Of Illinois

Submitted to: Journal of Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/10/2026
Publication Date: 3/12/2026
Citation: Qureshi, N., Mishra, S., Liu, Z., Singh, M., Hector, R.E., Ezeji, T.C., Ashby, R.D., Jackson, M.A., Singh, V. 2026. Butyric acid production from corn: economics of fermentative production of a novel biobased chemical. Journal of Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology. https://doi.org/10.1093/jimb/kuag009.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/jimb/kuag009

Interpretive Summary: Butyric acid has a market size of $290 million and is expected to double over the next 5 years. This chemical is used in food and beverage, animal feed, and pharmaceutical industries but is currently produced via petrochemical routes. Demand for producing butyric acid by fermentation is high due to a strong preference by manufacturers and consumers to use biobased, natural ingredients. For these reasons, we evaluated the economics of producing butyric acid fermentation from corn using two different approaches for recovering butyric acid. Economic analysis of our modified fermentation process shows that butyric acid can be produced from corn at a selling price lower than butyric acid produced from petroleum. Production of butyric acid from corn expands its market and benefits the US corn growers.

Technical Abstract: In the present study, the economic evaluation of fermentation produced butyric acid (HBu) from corn was carried out (capacity 40 x 106 kg HBu·yr-1) and two recovery processes (distillation and adsorption) were compared. Distillation is a longstanding process that has been effectively used to recover volatile chemicals. Recently, we developed an adsorption process that can be used to recover HBu cost competitively. The direct fixed capital (DFC) of the two processes (distillation & adsorption) were (in US dollars) $73.96 x 106 and $43.91 x 106, respectively. It is reported that the production of HBu from corn requires supplementing with amylase enzymes to the corn mash. For the two processes (distillation & adsorption) the annual operating costs were $45.89 x 106 and $40.04 x 106, respectively. The utilities annual costs for the two processes were $47.38 x 106 and $5.91 x 106, respectively. Corn price is one of the most important factors that influence HBu selling price, but other factors that could lower production costs include lower enzyme cost and co-product credit. The significance of this paper is that HBu produced from corn and recovered by adsorption could be sold for $1.57 to 1.03·kg-1. The selling price of fermentation produced HBu could further be reduced considerably if agricultural biomass such as wheat straw is used for production.