Methacrylic acid (MA) and methyl methacrylate (MMA) are the most important monomers for a wide range of polymer products. The main product is polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA), with a consumption of about 2.1 million tonnes.
In this work, we have obtained the building blocks by bacterial fermentation at a pilot scale in the laboratory, specifically, the production of 2-methyl-3-hydroxypropanoic acid, which, when dehydrated, becomes the structural unit or monomer of the methacrylates, especially methyl methacrylate (MMA) and methyl polymethacrylate (PMMA), which is one of the most important plastics used today in the industry.
This project provides a greener and more sustainable alternative pathway for the synthesis of methacrylic acid from 2-methyl-1,3-propanediol, a low-cost industrial byproduct, through its partial oxidation with the use of the bacterium Gluconobacter oxydans.
During the study several fermentations were carried out, testing different bacteria, substrates, culture media and fermentation media, in order to obtain the desired product with the highest possible yield.
Finally, the product of interest has been obtained at a lower than expected yield of 20-30%, mainly due to the lack of control of the operating conditions, mainly the ambient temperatura, which has led to several failed experiments in which the product of interest has not been obtained, but the main objective has been achieved, demonstrate its obtaining by this fermentative route.
