Acrylamide, Microbial Production by Nitrile Hydratase

Acrylamide is one of the most important commodity chemicals widely used in coagulators, soil conditioners, adhensives, paints and petroleum recovering agents. The demand for acrylamide is readily growing yearly. Acrylamide is traditionally produced by chemical hydration of acrylonitrile employing sulfuric acid or copper salt as catalyst. Both of the processes were complicated and caused severe environmental pollution. The search for simpler and greener manufacture methods of acrylamide has never ceased. Discovery of nitrile hydratase and its application in nitrile hydration offers a novel method for the production of acrylamide. The worldwide development of biocatalytic acrylamide technology including the improvement of three generations of industrial strains as well as its current status is described. Microbial production of acrylamide affords both economic and technical advantages over the traditional chemical synthesis including high energy efficiency, high selectivity and purity. This is the first example of the introduction of an industrial bioconversion process for the manufacture of a commodity chemical and has been widely regarded as a milestone in the development history of industrial biotechnology.