초록
<P><B>Background</B></P><P>Succinic acid is one of the most interesting platform chemicals that can be produced in a biorefinery approach. In this study, continuous succinic acid production by <I>Actinobacillus succinogenes</I> fermentation in a packed-bed biofilm reactor (PBBR) was investigated.</P><P><B>Results</B></P><P>The effects of the operating conditions tested, dilution rate (D), and medium composition (mixture of glucose, xylose, and arabinose—that simulate the composition of a lignocellulosic hydrolysate)—on the PBBR performances were investigated. The maximum succinic acid productivity of 35.0 g L<SUP>−1</SUP> h<SUP>−1</SUP> and the maximum SA concentration were achieved at a <I>D</I> = 1.9 h<SUP>−1</SUP>. The effect of HMF and furfural on succinic acid production was also investigated. HMF resulted to reduce succinic acid production by 22.6%, while furfural caused a reduction of 16% in SA production at the same dilution rate.</P><P><B>Conclusion</B></P><P>Succinic acid production by <I>A. succinogenes</I> fermentation in a packed-bed reactor (PBBR) was successfully carried out for more than 5 months. The optimal results were obtained at the dilution rate 0.5 h<SUP>−1</SUP>: 43.0 g L<SUP>−1</SUP> of succinic acid were produced, glucose conversion was 88%; and the volumetric productivity was 22 g L<SUP>−1</SUP> h<SUP>−1</SUP>.</P><P><B>Electronic supplementary material</B></P><P>The online version of this article (10.1186/s13068-018-1143-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.</P>