Methods for production of L-methionine and related products

1. A method for producing an L-methionine product comprising;

(a) providing a fermentation liquor comprising an L-methionine precursor selected from the group consisting of O-acetylhomoserine (OAHS) and O-succinyl homoserine (OSHS), and at least one impurity;

(b) enzymatically processing said precursor to produce a reaction liquor comprising L-methionine, an organic acid selected from the group consisting of acetic acid and succinic acid and at least one impurity;

(c) modifying said reaction liquor to form a crystallizing feed;

(d) crystallizing L-methionine from said crystallizing feed to form crystalline L-methionine and an L-methionine-depleted mother liquor; and

(e) recovering at least a portion of said organic acid from said mother liquor as recovered organic acid; wherein said recovering comprises producing a residual liquor containing said free organic acid and separating said free organic acid,

and said crystalline L-methionine is characterized by at least one characteristic selected from the group consisting of:

(i) purity greater than 95%;

(ii) containing less than 1% organic acid;

(iii) L-methionine precursor content greater than 1 PPB;

(iv) content of at least one particular impurity is greater than 10 PPM;

(v) less than 2% of D-methionine; and

(vi) carbon-14 to carbon-12 ratio of at least 2.0×10 −13 .

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said modifying comprises combining said reaction liquor with an L-methionine-comprising recycle stream.

3. The method according to claim 2 , further comprising the step of separating L-methionine from said mother liquor to form said L-methionine-comprising recycle stream and a purged mother liquor stream.

4. The method according to claim 3 , wherein said separating L-methionine from said mother liquor comprises crystallizing to form second crystalline L-methionine and separating said second crystalline L-methionine from said purged mother liquor.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein one or more of said impurity is selected from the group consisting of amino acids, vitamins, minerals, ammonia, acetic acid, succinic acid, methyl mercaptan, enzymes, L-methionine precursor and a combination thereof.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said L-methionine precursor is O-succinyl homoserine, wherein said organic acid is succinic acid and wherein said processing is conducted in the presence of calcium ions.

7. A method for producing an L-methionine comprising;

(a) enzymatically processing a fermentation liquor comprising an L-methionine precursor selected from the group consisting of O-acetylhomoserine (OAHS) and O-succinylhomoserine (OSHS) to produce L-methionine and a source of an organic acid selected from acetic acid and succinic acid;

(b) separating at least a portion of said L-methionine from at least a fraction of said source of organic acid to form separated L-methionine and a residual liquor comprising the source of organic acid; and

(c) recovering at least a portion of said source of organic acid from said residual liquor as recovered organic acid, wherein said recovering comprises producing said residual liquor containing free organic acid and separating said free organic acid.

8. The method according to claim 7 , further comprising using said recovered organic acid as a reagent, wherein said using comprises applying to production of a fermentation product.

9. The method according to claim 8 , wherein said fermentation product is selected from the group consisting of carboxylic and amino acids.

10. The method according to claim 7 , further comprising using said recovered organic acid as a reagent, wherein said using comprises adding said reagent as an ingredient in a fermentation medium.

11. The method according to claim 7 , wherein said L-methionine precursor is O-succinyl homoserine, wherein said organic acid is succinic acid, and wherein recovering comprises forming residual liquor comprising free succinic acid and separating said free succinic acid.