Method for controlling biooxidation reactions

1. A method for controlling a biooxidation reaction for preparing carboxylic acids comprising the steps of:

(1) independently adding a substrate and a co-substrate at predetermined rates to a biooxidation reaction mixture comprised of a biocatalyst;

(2) measuring the oxygen consumption rate and carbon dioxide evolution rate from the reaction mixture;

(3) determining the instantaneous rates of substrate (−r s ) and co-substrate consumption (−r c ) by solving simultaneous equations relating carbon dioxide evolution rate and oxygen consumption rate to the substrate oxidation stoichiometry, of the form,

 the co-substrate combustion stoichiometry of the form,

 and a constitutive stoichiometric model for the yield of biomass formation having anabolic reactions of the form,

c 4 Co-substrate(s)+b 4 O 2 +h 3 NH 3 →g 4 Biomass+f 4 H 2 O,

 wherein, the simultaneous equations are given by

-

r

6

=

-

r

O2

-

(

b

2

/

e

2

)

⁢

r

CO2

(

b

1

/

a

1

)

-

(

b

2

/

e

2

)

⁢

(

e

1

/

a

1

)

+

(

b

4

/

g

4

)

⁢

(

d

1

/

a

1

)

⁢

Ψ

−r c =[(c 4 /g 4 )(d 1 /a 1 )Ψ+(c 1 /a 1 )−(c 2 /e 2 ) (e 1 /a 1 ) ](−r s )+(c 2 /e 2 )r CO2 , and

Ψ=(MW P /MW X )(1/Y p/X ) [1−Y p/X ]

(4) simultaneously adjusting the substrate and co-substrate addition rates, either continuously or periodically during the biooxidation reaction, relative to the rates of substrate oxidation and co-substrate consumption according to the control formulas

F s (setpoint)=A 1 (Mw s /X s )(−r s ) V f

and

F c (setpoint)=A 2 (Mw c /X c ) (−r c )V f

respectively, using dimensionally consistent units of measure, thereby maximizing the rate of product formation while minimizing the rate of co-substrate usage, using adjustable parameters A 1 and A 2 having values of about 1 depending upon the phase of biooxidation, wherein the variables are defined by

Symbol

Definition

A 1

Ratio substrate feed to substrate demand, slope of substrate

operating line

A 2

Ratio co-substrate feed to co-substrate demand, slope of

co-substrate operating line

F s (setpoint)

Substrate feed rate setpoint

F C (setpoint)

Co-substrate feed rate setpoint

r CO2

Rate of carbon dioxide evolution; CER

−r O2

Rate of oxygen consumption; OUR

−r C

rate of co-substrate consumption

−r S

rate of substrate consumption

Y P/X

mass of product in a unit mass of dry biomass

Mw c

formula weight of the co-substrate

Mw X

formula weight of biomass

Mw S

formula weight of substrate

MW diacids

formula weight of diacids (Example 15)

X c

Mass fraction metabolizable substances in the co-substrate

feed

X s

Mass fraction metabolizable substances in the substrate

feed

V f

biooxidation reaction mass

a i

Stoichiometric coefficient of substrate in reaction i

b i

Stoichiometric coefficient of oxygen in reaction i

c i

Stoichiometric coefficient of co-substrate in reaction i

d i

Stoichiometric coefficient of products in reaction i

e i

Stoichiometric coefficient of carbon dioxide in reaction i

f i

Stoichiometric coefficient of water in reaction i

g i

Stoichiometric coefficient of biomass in reaction i

h i

Stoichiometric coefficient of ammonia in reaction i

Ψ

Molar ratio of product to biomass

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the substrate is a carboxylic acid.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the carboxylic acid is oleic acid.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the substrate is an alkane.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the co-substrate is glucose.

6. The method of claim 1 for controlling a biooxidation reaction for making an α,ω-dicarboxylic acid comprising the steps of:

(1) independently adding a substrate selected from the group consisting of an alkane, an alkene, an alcohol, an aldehyde, a carboxylic acid or a derivative thereof and a co-substrate at independently predetermined rates to a bioxidation reaction mixture comprised of a biocatalyst for converting the substrate to the α,ω-dicarboxylic acid;

(2) measuring the oxygen consumption rate and carbon dioxide evolution rate of the reaction mixture;

(3) determining the instantaneous rates of substrate and co-substrate consumption by solving the simultaneous equations relating carbon dioxide evolution rate and oxygen consumption rate to the substrate oxidation stoichiometry, the co-substrate combustion stoichiometry, and optionally the biomass formation stoichiometry;

(4) simultaneously adjusting the substrate and co-substrate addition rates to the rates of substrate oxidation and co-substrate consumption, whereby the rate of formation of the α,ω-dicarboxylic acid is maximized while simultaneously minimizing the rate of co-substrate usage.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the substrate is an alkane.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein the substrate is a carboxylic acid.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the carboxylic acid is oleic acid.

10. The method of claim 4 wherein the co-substrate is glucose.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the biocatalyst is Candida tropicalis H 5343.

12. The method of claim 6 wherein the biocatalyst is Candida tropicalis H 5343.

13. A method for making an 9-octadecenedioic acid comprising the steps of:

(1) independently adding a commercial oleic acid and a commercial glucose solution at predetermined rates to a bioxidation reaction mixture comprised of Candida tropicalis H 5343;

(2) measuring the oxygen consumption rate (−r O2 =OUR) and carbon dioxide evolution rate (r CO2 =CER) from the reaction mixture;

(3) determining the instantaneous rates of oleic acid consumption and glucose consumption by solving simultaneous equations relating carbon dioxide evolution rate and oxygen consumption rate to the oleic acid oxidation stoichiometry, the of the form,

 and glucose combustion stoichiometry of the form,

 according to

−r s·V f =(1/1.5) (−r 02 −r CO2 )·V f and

−r c ·V f =(1/6) (−r CO2 . ·V f ) respectively;

(4) adjusting continuously or periodically during the biooxidation reaction the oleic acid and glucose addition rates relative to the rates of oleic acid oxidation and glucose consumption according to

F s (set point)=A 3 (Mw s /X s )−r s ·V f

and

F c (set point)=A 4 (Mw c /X c )−r c ·V f

 wherein the values of A 3 and A 4 are about 1 in order to maximize the rate of the 9-octadecenedioic acid formation while simultaneously minimizing the rate of glucose usage where the variables are defined by

Symbol

Definition

A 3

Ratio of commercial oleic acid feed to oleic acid demand

A 4

Ration of glucose feed solution to glucose solution demand

F s (setpoint)

Substrate feed rate setpoint

F C (setpoint)

Co-substrate feed rate setpoint

r CO2

Rate of carbon dioxide evolution; CER

−r O2

Rate of oxygen consumption; OUR

−r C

rate of co-substrate consumption

−r S

rate of substrate consumption

Mw c

formula weight of the co-substrate

Mw S

formula weight of substrate

X c

Mass fraction metabolizable substances in the co-substrate

feed

X s

Mass fraction metabolizable substances in the co-substrate

feed

V f

biooxidation reaction mass

 , whereby, the formation of 9-octadecenedloic acid is maximized and the glucose usage is minimized.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the rate of biomass production is 0 and the value of Ψ is set to 0.