Key technologies for the industrial production of fumaric acid by fermentation.

The growing concern about the safety of food and dairy additives and the increasing costs of petroleum-based chemicals have rekindled the interest in the fermentation processes for fumaric acid production. The key problems of the industrial production of microbial fumaric acid are reviewed in this paper. Various strategies, including strain improvement, morphology control, substrate choice, fermentation process and separation process, are summarized and compared, and their economical possibilities for industrial processes are discussed. The market prospects and technological strategies for value-added fumaric acid derivatives are also addressed. The future prospects of microbial fumaric acid production are proposed at the end of this article.