Valorization of agri-food waste via fermentation: Production of L-lactic acid as a building block for the synthesis of biopolymers

Abstract

Global interest towards lactic acid production has recently significantly increased because lactic acid can be used as raw material for the production of polylactic acid (PLA), a polymer used in biodegradable plastics for its special, environmentally-friendly properties. However, the high production costs have hindered the large-scale application of PLA due to the high price of lactic acid. Here we evaluated the potential of pear pomace and ricotta cheese whey (RCW) as a low-cost source of nutrients for lactic acid fermentation of Lactobacillus casei and Lactobacillus farciminis in microaerophilic conditions and mild sterility. After an initial lab-scale screening of 19 lactic acid bacteria (LAB) strains to select the highest producer of lactic acid, we reported the 1L-batch scale-up to test process efficiency and productivity of the most promising LAB strains. Batch fermentation of a 25:75 mixture of pear pomace and RCW, respectively, reached an overall yield factor of 90% and a volumetric productivity of 0.42 g/L·h.