Department of Life and Environmental Science, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona, Italy.
Crit Rev Biotechnol. 2020 Mar;40(2):199-212. doi: 10.1080/07388551.2019.1709799. Epub 2020 Jan 5.
Citric acid is considered one of the most valuable weak organic acids on the market and its production by biotechnological approaches is a very interesting topic. Despite the related scientific research, the literature still lacks a state of the art for the technological innovation change, necessary for a study of the inventions designed for real scale implementation. In this context, the present review looks to account for more than 100 worldwide patents (1929-2018), necessary for the identification of the innovative markets and the most promising fields for economic investments. This deepened study identified an increasing invention number, combined with the current worldwide citric acid export flows, with China as the leader (with an economic contribution of 75%, in 2017). In order to satisfy the requests of the market which has moved toward a circular economy, the possibility to use waste substrates represents one of the main options considered in the recent patents. The discussion highlights the sustainability improvement, achieved by the conversion from a submerged technology to a solid-state fermentation ( process). The listed results are essential for both a scientific audience and the stakeholders involved in citric acid production, in order to have a complete and updated overview of this topic.
柠檬酸被认为是市场上最有价值的有机酸之一，通过生物技术生产柠檬酸是一个非常有趣的课题。尽管相关的科学研究很多，但文献仍然缺乏技术创新变革的最新状态，这对于研究旨在实际规模实施的发明是必要的。在这种情况下，本综述旨在涵盖全球 100 多项专利（1929-2018 年），这些专利对于识别创新市场和最有前途的经济投资领域是必要的。这项深入的研究发现，发明数量不断增加，同时结合全球柠檬酸出口流量，中国处于领先地位（2017 年经济贡献达到 75%）。为了满足市场向循环经济发展的需求，使用废底物的可能性是最近专利中考虑的主要选择之一。讨论强调了通过从液体发酵到固态发酵（工艺）的转换实现的可持续性提高。列出的结果对于科学受众和柠檬酸生产的利益相关者都是必不可少的，以便对该主题有一个完整和最新的概述。
