Lactic acid production and its application in pharmaceuticals

Abstract

Lactic acid is an organic acid which has large industrial and pharmaceutical applications, and its values are increasing in the global market. Different biomass ranging from whey to lignocellulose is used for the commercial production of lactic acid. Tools such as genetic engineering and metabolic engineering are used for strain improvement to enhance the yield and productivity of the lactic acid. Models such as Luedeking-Piret, substrate inhibition and product inhibition are used for the kinetic study of lactic acid production. Adaptation of immobilisation techniques may increase the yield of fermentation. Downstream processing tools such as adsorption, liquid-liquid extraction, precipitation and crystallisation, distillation etc. are used for the achievement of the high purity of lactic acid from the fermentation broth. Polymerisation of lactic acid results into polylactic acid, which has full applications in pharmaceuticals due to its biocompatibility and biodegradability. Lactic acid polymer applications may be widened by decreasing the production cost. Integration of pretreatment, hydrolysis and fermentation can reduce the production cost of lactic acid.