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    Production and purification of L-lactic acid in lab and pilot scales using sweet sorghum juice
    (Basel : MDPI AG, 2019) Olszewska-Widdrat, A.; Alexandri, M.; López-Gómez, J.P.; Schneider, R.; Mandl, M.; Venus, J.
    Sweet sorghum juice (SSJ) was evaluated as fermentation substrate for the production of l-lactic acid. A thermophilic Bacillus coagulans isolate was selected for batch fermentations without the use of additional nutrients. The first batch of SSJ (Batch A) resulted on higher lactic acid concentration, yield and productivity with values of 78.75 g·L−1, 0.78 g·g−1 and 1.77 g·L−1 h−1, respectively. Similar results were obtained when the process was transferred into the pilot scale (50 L), with corresponding values of 73 g·L−1, 0.70 g·g−1 and 1.47 g·L−1 h−1. A complete downstream process scheme was developed in order to separate lactic acid from the fermentation components. Coarse and ultra-filtration were employed as preliminary separation steps. Mono- and bipolar electrodialysis, followed by chromatography and vacuum evaporation were subsequently carried out leading to a solution containing 905.8 g·L−1 lactic acid, with an optical purity of 98.9%. The results of this study highlight the importance of the downstream process with respect to using SSJ for lactic acid production. The proposed downstream process constitutes a more environmentally benign approach to conventional precipitation methods.
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    Biorefinery Concept Employing Bacillus coagulans: LX-Lignin and L-(+)-Lactic Acid from Lignocellulose
    (Basel : MDPI, 2021) Schroedter, Linda; Streffer, Friedrich; Streffer, Katrin; Unger, Peter; Venus, Joachim
    A new biorefinery concept is proposed that integrates the novel LX-Pretreatment with the fermentative production of L-(+)-lactic acid. Lignocellulose was chosen as a substrate that does not compete with the provision of food or feed. Furthermore, it contains lignin, a promising new chemical building material which is the largest renewable source for aromatic compounds. Two substrates were investigated: rye straw (RS) as a residue from agriculture, as well as the fibrous digestate of an anaerobic biogas plant operated with energy corn (DCS). Besides the prior production of biogas from energy corn, chemically exploitable LX-Lignin was produced from both sources, creating a product with a low carbohydrate and ash content (90.3% and 88.2% of acid insoluble lignin). Regarding the cellulose fraction of the biomass, enzymatic hydrolysis and fermentation experiments were conducted, comparing a separate (SHF), simultaneous (SSF) and prehydrolyzed simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (PSSF) approach. For this purpose, thermophilic B. coagulans 14-300 was utilized, reaching 38.0 g L−1 LA in 32 h SSF from pretreated RS and 18.3 g L−1 LA in 30 h PSSF from pretreated DCS with optical purities of 99%.