Membrane-facilitated bioproduction of 3-methylcatechol in an octanol/water two-phase system.

Bioproduction of 3-methylcatechol from toluene by Pseudomonas putida MC2 was studied in the presence of an additional 1-octanol phase. This solvent was used to supply the substrate and extract the product, in order to keep the aqueous concentrations low. A hollow-fibre membrane kept the octanol and aqueous phase separated to prevent phase toxicity towards the bacterium. Volumetric production rates increased approximately 40% as compared to two-phase 3-methylcatechol production with direct phase contact. Preliminary investigations on downstream processing of 3-methylcatechol showed that 1 M of sodium hydroxide selectively extracted the disodium salt of 3-methylcatechol into an aqueous phase.