Biotechnological production of 2,3-butanediol

2,3-Butanediol, which is considered as an important fine and potential platform chemical, has been widely used in many fields such as materials, medicine, foods, aeronautics, astronautics, etc. Biotechnological production of 2,3-butanediol has a long history over 100 years. Recently, microbial 2,3-butanediol production has attracted great attention as this means which depends on renewable bioresources is a promising route for developing low carbon economy and a gateway to a more sustainable future. In this review, the history of 2,3-butanediol fermentation is revisited and the metabolic mechanism of microbial 2,3-butanediol accumulation and the related key genes and enzymes are firstly introduced. Some strategies for efficient and economical 2, 3-butanediol production, including using alternative cost-effective substrates to reduce the raw materials cost, strain improvement for enhancing the 2,3-butanediol yield and process development for improving the bioprocessing ecnomics, are then summarized. At last, various downstream separation methods for economical 2,3-butanediol recovering process are compared. It is pointed out that the focus of future research should be placed on improving biomass utilizing efficiency and enhancing 2,3-butanediol titer, also series of value-added 2,3-butanediol derivatives could be exploited to further expand its applications.