Lysine: To Feed or Not to Feed

1. Lysine: To Feed or Not to Feed Simone Houng CHEE 450 Engineering Biotechnology January 23, 2003

2. In general • One of 8 essential amino acids • Critical for poultry and hog feed • Food additive – 500-3,000 mg daily • Calcium absorption, collagen formation • Used as a supplement to treat herpes simplex January 23, 2003

3. What’s Done is Done • 1960s- fermentation from dextrose (Japan) • 1980s- 3 main producers: Ajinomoto and Kyowa Hakko (Japan), Sewon (South Korea) • ADM and collusion scandal January 23, 2003

4. To Market, To Market… • 1997: 350,000 t/yr • 2000: 450, 000 t/yr (660 million Euro) • Cost per kilogram: $1.5 (2000) • This Week: $4/kg (China), $6/kg (Europe) www.efeedlink.com January 23, 2003

5. Synthesis • Fermentation 80%, chemical synthesis 20% • Two (2) routes: • DAP pathway • α-aminoadipate pathway • C sources: cane molasses, beet sugar, starch hydrolyzate January 23, 2003

6. A Bug’s Life • Corynebacterium glutamicum (Major), but also Escherichia coli and Brevibacterium flavum, B. lactofermentum • cultivated on complete medium at [cell] of 106-108 cell/ml • penicillin enrichment method after treatment by UV or 60Co January 23, 2003

7. Recovery • broth acidified with mineral acid • passed thru strongly acidic cation exchange resin (NH4+ ) • eluted with dilute NH3, condensed under reduced pressure. • pH to 4.0 with HCl, concentrated again. • crystals of L-lysine monohydrochloride are separated and dried. January 23, 2003

8. Industrial Production • Follows DAP pathway • Homoserine limitation, with moderate biotin • Neutral pH (~7.0), temp = 30oC • Preferred process: multistep, fed-batch reactor ≥ hundreds of m3 January 23, 2003

9. Produced by: Corynebacterium glutamicum Raw material: starch hydrolysate [L-Lysine]= 10~12%. Fermentation: 56~64 hours in 110 m3 fermenter Yield =40% Recovery: 86% Final purity: 99%. Shanghai NewGenius BioTech Co. Ltd January 23, 2003