Recently, Professor Deng Yu and his team from the State Engineering Research Center for Grain Fermentation and Food Biotechnology at Jiangnan University have made significant progress in the synthesis of ethanol acid using microbial cell factories and corn stalk hydrolysate. The research findings have been published in the international journal "Bioresource Technology". Ethanol acid, also known as hydroxyacetic acid, is primarily used as a cleaning agent, toner, and exfoliating ingredient in non-prescription cosmetics. In addition, ethanol acid is also used in chemical cleaning, textile industry, and the production of biodegradable materials such as polyglycolic acid-lactic acid (PLGA) and polyglycolic acid (PGA), which possess advantages like biodegradability, biocompatibility, and low toxicity. It is understood that the demand for ethanol acid has been increasing year by year. According to statistics, the demand for ethanol acid in China has reached 25,000 tons per year by 2023, and the annual compound growth rate from 2022 to 2028 is expected to reach 7.1%. Traditionally, ethanol acid is synthesized through chemical methods such as hydrolysis of chloroacetic acid, which often leads to issues like high toxicity, severe pollution, low yield, and high carbon emissions. With the advancement of China's "Dual Carbon" strategy, biobased ethanol acid synthesized from renewable organic carbon sources like glucose has demonstrated more advantages over petroleum-based ethanol acid, such as green and environmentally friendly production, low carbon emissions, simple process, and mild reaction conditions. China is an agricultural powerhouse with abundant biomass resources from crop stalks. These biomass resources contain a rich amount of cellulose and hemicellulose, with glucose and xylose as...
