Lactic acid properties, applications and production: A review (original) (raw)
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Biotechnological Production of Lactic Acid and Its Recent Applications
Lactic acid is widely used in the food, cosmetic, pharmaceutical, and chemical industries and has received increased attention for use as a monomer for the production of biodegradable poly(lactic acid). It can be produced by either biotechnological fermentation or chemical synthesis, but the former route has received considerable interest recently, due to environmental concerns and the limited nature of petrochemical feedstocks. There have been various attempts to produce lactic acid efficiently from inexpensive raw materials. We present a review of lactic acid-producing microorganisms, raw materials for lactic acid production, fermentation approaches for lactic acid production, and various applications of lactic acid, with a particular focus on recent investigations. In addition, the future potentials and economic impacts of lactic acid are discussed.
Recent trends in lactic acid biotechnology: A brief review on production to purification
Journal of Radiation Research and Applied Sciences, 2014
Lactic acid is one of the most important organic acid which is being extensively used around the globe in a range of industrial and biotechnological applications. From its very old history to date, many methods have been introduced to improve the optimization of lactic acid to get highest yields of the product of industrial interests. In serious consideration of the worldwide economic and lactic acid consumption issues there has been increasing research interest in the value of materials with natural origin, which are cheap, abundant and easily available all around the year. Recent trends showed that lactic acid production through fermentation is advantageous over chemical due to the environmental concerns of the modern world. The eco-friendly processing and fermentable capability of many of the agricultural and agro-industrial based raw materials or by-products respectively makes them attractive candidates in fermentation biotechnology to produce a valueadded product with multiple applications. In fact, major advances have already been achieved in recent years in order to get pure lactic acid with optimal yield. The present review work is summarized on the multi-step processing technologies to produce lactic acid from different substances as a starting material potentially from various agroindustrial based biomasses. The information is also given on a purification through schematic representation of the product of quality interests.
Lactic acid: recent advances in products, processes and technologies — a review
Journal of Chemical Technology & Biotechnology, 2006
Lactic acid, the most widely occurring hydroxycarboxylic acid, is an enigmatic chemical. It was discovered a long time ago and its use in food preservation and processing and as a specialty chemical has grown over the years with current production of about 120 000 t yr −1 . Its potential as a major chemical feedstock, derived from renewable carbohydrates by sustainable technologies, to make plastics, fibers, solvents and oxygenated chemicals, had also been recognized. Recently, new technologies have emerged that can overcome major barriers in separations and purification and processing. Advances in electrodialysis (ED) and bipolar membranes and one particular process configuration termed the 'double ED' process, a specific combination of desalting ED followed by 'water-splitting' ED with bipolar membranes, has given very promising results, showing a strong potential for an efficient and economic process for recovery and purification of lactic acid without generating a salt waste. For the production of polymers, several advances in catalysts and process improvements have occurred in the technology to produce dilactide and its polymerization to produce plastics and fibers by Natureworks LLC, which is the leader in lactic polymer technology and markets. Other advances in esterification technology with pervaporation and development of biosolvent blends also have a high potential for 'green' solvents in many applications. Recently, a considerable amount of pioneering effort in technology, product development and commercialization has been expended by several companies. To overcome the barriers to replace long-established petroleum-derived products, further real support from consumer, regulatory and government organizations is also needed.
Second-generation (2g) Lactic Acid Production and New Developments – a Mini-review
Chemical engineering transactions, 2020
Lactic acid (LA) production is already a global reality. Its applications cover the most diverse industrial sectors and have rapidly consolidated in recent years. Currently, the most prominent use of LA is the production of polylactic acid to replace plastics from the petrochemical industry. A great part of this rapid change is due to the rising worldwide concerns about the excess of non-degradable plastics used daily and the accumulation of this material in nature. In this scenario, LA production becomes even more relevant when considering its production from renewable raw materials, especially second-generation (2G) substrates, such as lignocellulosic biomass. This reduces the human dependence on oil for both energy and fuel production, as well as for the production of plastics and other chemicals since LA is still one of the most relevant building block chemicals. Nowadays it is possible to produce LA from the most diverse 2G-substrates available around the world. Thus, LA produc...
Bioutilisation of agro-industrial waste for lactic acid production
International Journal of Food Science & Technology, 2015
The production of biodegradable polymers as alternatives to petroleum-based plastics has gained significant attention in the past years. To this end, polylactic acid (PLA) constitutes a promising alternative, finding various applications from food packaging to pharmaceuticals. Recent studies have shown that d-lactic acid plays a vital role in the production of heat-resistant PLA. At the same time, the utilization of renewable resources is imperative in order to decrease the production cost. This review aims to provide a synopsis of the current state of the art regarding d-lactic acid production via fermentation, focusing on the exploitation of waste and byproduct streams. An overview of potential downstream separation schemes is also given. Additionally, three case studies are presented and discussed, reporting the obtained results utilizing acid whey, coffee mucilage and hydrolysate from rice husks as alternative feedstocks for d-lactic acid production.
Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, 2007
The concept of utilizing excess biomass or wastes from agricultural and agro-industrial residues to produce energy, feeds or foods, and other useful products is not necessarily new. Recently, fermentation of biomass has gained considerable attention due to the forthcoming scarcity of fossil fuels and also due to the necessity of increasing world food and feed supplies. A cost-effective viable process for lactic acid production has to be developed for which several attempts have been initiated. Fermentation techniques result in the production of either D (−) or L (+) lactic acid, or a racemic mixture of both, depending on the type of organism used. The interest in the fermentative production of lactic acid has increased due to the prospects of environmental friendliness and of using renewable resources instead of petrochemicals. Amylolytic bacteria Lactobacillus amylovorus ATCC 33622 is reported to have the efficiency of full conversion of liquefied cornstarch to lactic acid with a productivity of 20 g l −1 h −1 . A maximum of 35 g l −1 h −1 was reported using a high cell density of L. helveticus (27 g l −1 ) with a complete conversion of 55-to 60-g l −1 lactose present in whey. Simultaneous saccharification and fermentation is proved to be best in the sense of high substrate concentration in lower reactor volume and low fermentation cost. In this review, a survey has been made to see how effectively the fermentation technology explored and exploited the cheaply available source materials for value addition with special emphasis on lactic acid production.
Lactic Acid Production from Polysaccharides-Containing Raw Materials
Ecology & Safety, 2018
To date, more than 90% of global lactic acid production is achieved by microbial fermentation of sugars. Despite the significant advantages of microbial production process over the chemical means, the final production cost is relatively high and still limits product application. In commercial scale, it is considered that a significant part of production cost is determined by the substrate cost, so the use of sugars is not so economically feasible. A promising alternative to overcome this problem is the development of new strategies for utilizing cheaper and abundant in nature materials, such as biomass or polysaccharides containing industrial residues. In this review are summarized the current problems and limitations of biological production process like the last achievements in lactic acid production from renewable raw resources, such as lignocelluloses, starchy materials and inulin-containing substrates. Although all these attempts are still on laboratory scale, they receive extensive attention because of their potential possibilities to replace sugars utilization in microbial lactic acid production and to provide an economically competitive and eco-friendly production process.
Lactic Acid Production to Purification: A Review
BioResources, 2017
Lactic acid is a naturally occurring organic acid that can be used in a wide variety of industries, such as the cosmetic, pharmaceutical, chemical, food, and, most recently, the medical industries. It can be made by the fermentation of sugars obtained from renewable resources, which means that it is an eco-friendly product that has attracted a lot of attention in recent years. In 2010, the U.S. Department of Energy issued a report that listed lactic acid as a potential building block for the future. Bearing the importance of lactic acid in mind, this review summarizes information about lactic acid properties and applications, as well as its production and purification processes.
Biotechnological valorization of agro industrial and household wastes for lactic acid production
Revista Colombiana de Biotecnología, 2019
Lactic acid (LA) is an organic compound used in several industries, such as food, textile, chemical, and pharmaceutical. The global interest in this product is due to its use for the synthesis of numerous chemical compounds, including polylactic acid, a biode-gradable thermoplastic and substitute for petroleum-derived plastics. An in-depth overview of the use of industrial and household wastes as inexpensive substrates in order to reduce the cost of LA production is presented. A review is carried out of the biotech-nological aspects that must be taken into account when using some wastes with high transformation potential to produce LA in a submerged culture, as well recommendations for their use. The advantages and disadvantages of different types of treatments used for the transformation of waste into suitable substrates are considered. Several methods of fermentation, as well as genetic strategies for increasing the production, are summarized and compared. It is expected that in a few years there will be many ad-vances in these areas that will allow greater large-scale production of LA using agroindustrial or household wastes, with potential positive economic and environmental impact in some regions of the planet.