Agro-industrial wastes are a low-cost and sustainable resource for the production of both bulk and specialty chemicals. A number of natural flavors can also be produced from them via microbial transformation. Vanillin is one of the most important flavoring compounds in the food industry. Research regarding its biotechnological production from ferulic acid AU3 recovered from agro-food industry byproducts and wastes has received a great impulse in the last years. Several byproducts from the cereal industry (maize, rice, and wheat) and the sugar beet pulp have been examined as a source of ferulic acid that has been extracted at high yield from all of them. Both crude hydrolysates, obtained from the mentioned plant source and purified ferulic acid, have been used as substrate sources for the biological production of ‘natural’ vanillin. The highest vanillin molar yields have been obtained with the use of fungi or actinomycetes as catalysts, although very promising results have been recently obtained with nonfilamentous microorganisms. On the whole, the production of vanillin from agro-food industry byproducts represents an opportunity to produce this flavor in a new, economically and environmentally sustainable way, which also allows for the valorization of waste matrixes.

Vanillin production from agro-industrial wastes

DI GIOIA, DIANA;FAVA, FABIO;
2011

Abstract

Agro-industrial wastes are a low-cost and sustainable resource for the production of both bulk and specialty chemicals. A number of natural flavors can also be produced from them via microbial transformation. Vanillin is one of the most important flavoring compounds in the food industry. Research regarding its biotechnological production from ferulic acid AU3 recovered from agro-food industry byproducts and wastes has received a great impulse in the last years. Several byproducts from the cereal industry (maize, rice, and wheat) and the sugar beet pulp have been examined as a source of ferulic acid that has been extracted at high yield from all of them. Both crude hydrolysates, obtained from the mentioned plant source and purified ferulic acid, have been used as substrate sources for the biological production of ‘natural’ vanillin. The highest vanillin molar yields have been obtained with the use of fungi or actinomycetes as catalysts, although very promising results have been recently obtained with nonfilamentous microorganisms. On the whole, the production of vanillin from agro-food industry byproducts represents an opportunity to produce this flavor in a new, economically and environmentally sustainable way, which also allows for the valorization of waste matrixes.
2011
Volume 6 Environmental Biotechnology and safety
661
667
Di Gioia D.; Fava F.; Luziatelli F.; Ruzzi M.
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11585/108819
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