HETEROTROPHIC PRODUCTION OF ASCORBIC-ACID BY MICROALGAE

An aerobic fermentation process has been developed for the production of L-ascorbic acid (vitamin C). After an extensive screening program for microorganisms capable of heterotrophically synthesizing L-ascorbic acid, a unicellular green microalga, Chlorella pyrenoidosa, was selected. This organism has a number of characteristics that recommend it as an industrial organism: (1) it can double every 3.5 h when growing aerobically in the dark on a glucose-minimal salts medium; (2) its small size and tough cell wall make it very insensitive to shear, allowing very high impeller velocities; (3) it can be grown to 100 g L-1 cell dry weight; (4) it is readily mutable by classical mutagenesis techniques; and (5) it has efficient growth kinetics with respect to yield of cell mass on glucose and oxygen. Fermentation process development and classical strain improvement have resulted in a greater than 70-fold increase in intracellular ascorbic acid concentration compared to the parent strain C. pyrenoidosa UTEX 1663. The process is compatible with existing industrial fermentation technology and equipment and is described in U.S. Patent 5,001,059. Patents have been submitted for a process in which the ascorbic acid accumulates extracellularly.