PRO-SUPER project overview: Fungal Production Systems Utilizing Arabinose and Xylose for the production of xylitol

Agricultural waste residues like sugar beet pulp are produced as waste product in vast amounts. These generate no or only small profits because their use is limited to the production of biogas or feed for livestock. In the BMBF project PRO-SUGAR a twostep system for the liberation of D-galacturonic acid (D-GalA) from sugar beet pulp (with contents of up to 25 % D-GalA from its total carbon) was developed. Further on the D-GalA was converted into L-galactonate (L-GalOA) and L-galactono-γ-lactone (Ggl) for the usage in cosmetics, food and feed. To further enhance the holistic usage of this waste stream in PRO-SUPER the attention is drawn to new processes to obtain valuable products:

  1) L-GalOA/Ggl will be further converted into L-ascorbic acid (L-AA, vitamin C) and ascorbyl palmitate (AP) and

  2) Establishment of a new bioconversion system for pentoses like L-arabinose (L-Ara) and D-Xylose (D-Xyl) and their biotransformation to xylitol. In this way, over 40 % of the total carbon in sugar beet pulp is transformed into three products with high value (see figure).