This project addresses the conversion of biomass to useful chemicals. In particular, a fully integrated process will be developed for the production of succinic acid from biomass. Issues of pretreatment, fermentation, and product recovery will be examined for significant improvement in overall economics. Phase I will study the fermentation of sugars to succinic acid in order to establish the feasibility of the process.
Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee: A commercially viable process for chemical production should be economically competitive to fossil fuel based processes
