Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Production of Lactic Acid from Sucrose: Strain Selection, Fermentation, and Kinetic Modeling

  • Published:
Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Lactic acid is an important product arising from the anaerobic fermentation of sugars. It is used in the pharmaceutical, cosmetic, chemical, and food industries as well as for biodegradable polymer and green solvent production. In this work, several bacterial strains were isolated from industrial ethanol fermentation, and the most efficient strain for lactic acid production was selected. The fermentation was conducted in a batch system under anaerobic conditions for 50 h at a temperature of 34 °C, a pH value of 5.0, and an initial sucrose concentration of 12 g/L using diluted sugarcane molasses. Throughout the process, pulses of molasses were added in order to avoid the cell growth inhibition due to high sugar concentration as well as increased lactic acid concentrations. At the end of the fermentation, about 90% of sucrose was consumed to produce lactic acid and cells. A kinetic model has been developed to simulate the batch lactic acid fermentation results. The data obtained from the fermentation were used for determining the kinetic parameters of the model. The developed model for lactic acid production, growth cell, and sugar consumption simulates the experimental data well.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7

Similar content being viewed by others

Abbreviations

K i :

Inhibition constant (L/g)

K s :

Monod constant (h−1)

P :

Lactic acid concentration (g/L)

P 0 :

Lactic acid initial concentration (g/L)

S :

Sucrose concentration (g/L)

S 0 :

Sucrose initial concentration (g/L)

X :

Biomass concentration (g/L)

α :

Growth-associated constant for the Luedeking–Piret (g lactic acid/g biomass)

β :

Non growth-associated constant for the Luedeking–Piret (g/h)

µ max :

Maximum specific growth rate (h−1)

References

  1. Datta, R. & Henry, M. (2006). Lactic acid: recent advances in products, processes and technologies—A review. Journal of Chemical Technology and Biotechnology, 81, 1119–1129.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Burgos-Rubio, C. N., Okos, M. R., & Wankat, P. C. (2000). Kinetic study of the conversion of different substrates to lactic acid using Lactobacillus bulgaricus. Biotechnology Progress, 16, 305–314.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Narayanan, N., Roychoudhury, P. K., & Srivastava, A. (2004). L (+) lactic acid fermentation and its product polymerization. Journal of Biotechnology, 7(2), 167–179.

    Google Scholar 

  4. John, R. P. & Nampoorthiri, K. M. (2007). Fermentative production of lactic acid from biomass: An overview on process developments and future perspectives. Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, 74, 524–534.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Wee, Y. J., Kim, J. N., & Ryu, H. W. (2006). Biotechnological production of lactic acid and its recent applications. Food Technology and Biotechnology, 44(2), 163–172.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Pandey, A., Soccol, C. R., Rodriguez-Leon, J. A., & Nigam, P. (2001). Solid state fermentation in biotechnology: fundamentals and applications. New Delhi: Asiatech.

    Google Scholar 

  7. Luedeking, P. & Piret, E. L. (1959). A kinetic study of the lactic acid fermentation. Batch process at controlled pH. Journal of Biochemical and Microbiological Technology and Engineering, 1, 393–412.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful to the Fundação de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo, Brazil (FAPESP), process number 06/07175-7 for the financial support. The authors want to thank also the Sugarcane Technology Center (CTC) and the Laboratory of Bioprocess of the School Foods Engineering of the State University of Campinas.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Optimization, Design and Advanced Control, Department of Chemical Processes, School of Chemical Engineering, State University of Campinas, P.O. Box 6066, 13083-970, Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil

    Betânia H. Lunelli, Rafael R. Andrade, Maria Regina Wolf Maciel & Rubens Maciel Filho

  2. Sugarcane Technology Center, Fazenda Santo Antônio, P.O. Box 162, 13400-970, Piracicaba, São Paulo, Brazil

    Daniel I. P. Atala

  3. Laboratory of Bioprocess Engineering, School of Food Engineering, State University of Campinas, P. O. Box 6121, Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil

    Francisco Maugeri Filho

Authors
  1. Betânia H. Lunelli
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Rafael R. Andrade
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Daniel I. P. Atala
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Maria Regina Wolf Maciel
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Francisco Maugeri Filho
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Rubens Maciel Filho
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Betânia H. Lunelli.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Lunelli, B.H., Andrade, R.R., Atala, D.I.P. et al. Production of Lactic Acid from Sucrose: Strain Selection, Fermentation, and Kinetic Modeling. Appl Biochem Biotechnol 161, 227–237 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12010-009-8828-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12010-009-8828-0

Keywords

Search

Navigation