New Agro-Industrial Wastes as Feedstock for Lactic Acid Production

A special issue of Fermentation (ISSN 2311-5637). This special issue belongs to the section "Industrial Fermentation".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 August 2023) | Viewed by 18275

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
State Key Laboratory of Bioreactor Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, China
Interests: lignocellulose; biorefinery processing; pretreatment; biodetoxification; cellulosic ethanol; cellulosic lactic acid; cellulosic amino acid
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
State Key Laboratory of Bioreactor Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, China
Interests: biomass energy; biorefinery

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Since the first analysis of sour milk by the Swedish chemist C.W. Scheele in the 1780s, lactic acid (2-hydroxypropanoic acid) has been widely applied in the food, animal feed, cosmetics, medicines, and materials industries. For environmentally friendly biodegradable polymers applications, polylactic acid (PLA) is a superstar product that replaces petrochemical polymers, such as polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene, and polyester. The sharp increase in PLA consequently stimulates the demand for its monomer chemicals, namely chiral lactic acids (L-lactic acid and D-lactic acid). The global lactic acid market was valued at USD 2.6 billion in 2018, and is expected to grow at ~20% annually to be ~USD 9 billion in 2025.

Currently, all lactic acid is produced by microbial fermentation using starch or sugar as feedstocks. With the fast market expansion of PLA, maintaining feedstock production is a considerable challenge. Starch or sugar feedstocks are certainly not sufficient to meet the ever-growing need for lactic acid production as a PLA monomer because most starch and sugar are used as human food or animal feed. It is crucially important to find alternative feedstocks as carbon (sugar) sources for the future large-scale industrial production of lactic acid. The feedstock should be sufficiently abundant, easily available, low-cost, renewable, and from non-food sources

The aim of this Special Issue entitled “New Agro-Industrial Wastes as Feedstock for Lactic Acid Production” is to publish the cutting-edge research on using agro-industrial waste biomass for the production of lactic acid, especially the production of chiral lactic acids (L-lactic acid and D-lactic acid) with the potential to be used as monomer chemicals of PLA. Agro-industrial wastes include crops residues (corn stover, wheat straw, rice straw, sugarcane bagasse, etc.), forest residues (wood sawdust, etc.), energy plants (switch grass, empty palm bunches, etc.), as well as industrial biomass wastes (corncob residue from xylose extraction, corn fibers, DDGS, fruit residues, etc.), but exclude pure sugars from sugarcane, sugar beets, sweet sorghum, and starch from corn, wheat, rice, barley, sweet potato, potato, and other starch-based crops. The research scopes covered in this Special Issue include, but are not limited to, biorefinery conversion, fermentation, microbial cell factory, purification and valorization, and novel process platform technology aiming at lactic acid production, as well as techno-economic and carbon-neutral evaluations.

The submission window for the Special Issue opens from March 1, 2023, to Aug 31, 2023.

We are looking forward to having you participate in this gathering of excellent research from the field of lactic acid.

Prof. Dr. Jie Bao
Dr. Bin Zhang
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • chiral lactic acid
  • agro-industrial wastes
  • biorefinery processing
  • fermentation
  • microbial strains
  • techno-economic and carbon-neutral evaluation

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Published Papers (6 papers)

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Editorial

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3 pages, 137 KiB  
Editorial
New Perspectives on Lactic Acid Production from Renewable Agro-Industrial Wastes
by Bin Zhang and Jie Bao
Fermentation 2024, 10(10), 534; https://doi.org/10.3390/fermentation10100534 - 21 Oct 2024
Viewed by 445
Abstract
Since its initial discovery in sour milk by Swedish chemist C [...] Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Agro-Industrial Wastes as Feedstock for Lactic Acid Production)

Research

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22 pages, 5614 KiB  
Article
Lactic Acid Production from Cow Manure: Technoeconomic Evaluation and Sensitivity Analysis
by Ricard Garrido, Luisa F. Cabeza and Víctor Falguera
Fermentation 2023, 9(10), 901; https://doi.org/10.3390/fermentation9100901 - 10 Oct 2023
Viewed by 2091
Abstract
Recently, the industrial focus has shifted to renewable raw materials due to the exhaustion and rising pressures about environmental and political issues. Lignocellulosic biowaste can be derived from a range of sources, such as animal manure, forestry waste, and agricultural waste, and it [...] Read more.
Recently, the industrial focus has shifted to renewable raw materials due to the exhaustion and rising pressures about environmental and political issues. Lignocellulosic biowaste can be derived from a range of sources, such as animal manure, forestry waste, and agricultural waste, and it can be transformed into lactic acid through a biochemical process. There are 942.63 million cattle in the world and annually generate 3.7 billion tons of manure, which could be used to produce lactic acid. The economic viability of a lactic acid plant from cow manure has not yet been determined and is, thus, considered in this study. Using the modeling program Aspen Plus data and other sources, as well as collecting all economic inputs, the feasibility analysis of a lactic acid plant handling cow manure is assessed in this paper. Three scenarios are calculated to check the feasibility depending on the plant size: scenario I handles 1,579,328 t·year−1, scenario II handles 789,664 t·year−1, and scenario III handles 315,865 t·year−1. The results demonstrate that treating the tested lignocellulosic biomass for the manufacture of lactic acid is economically feasible because the economic analysis shows positive net present values for scenarios I, II, and III. The technoeconomic analysis reveals that the minimum lactic acid selling price for scenario I is 0.945 EUR·kg−1, which is comparable to the cost of commercial lactic acid produced from starch feedstock. Scenario II achieves a minimum selling price of 1.070 EUR·kg−1, and scenario III 1.289 EUR·kg−1. The sensitivity analysis carried out reveals that the factor with the biggest impact on the NPV is the yield. Moreover, this study provides a model of industrial application and technoeconomic evaluation for lactic acid production from cow manure. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Agro-Industrial Wastes as Feedstock for Lactic Acid Production)
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11 pages, 893 KiB  
Article
Lactic Acid Production Using Sugarcane Juice as an Alternative Substrate and Purification through Ion-Exchange Resins
by Priscilla Zwiercheczewski de Oliveira, Luciana Porto de Souza Vandenberghe and Carlos Ricardo Soccol
Fermentation 2023, 9(10), 879; https://doi.org/10.3390/fermentation9100879 - 29 Sep 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2648
Abstract
The commercial importance of lactic acid (LA) is due to its versatility, especially in the food industry, and for being the precursor of poly-lactic acid, which demands a high-quality LA precursor. The overall LA production process still has some bottlenecks related to costs; [...] Read more.
The commercial importance of lactic acid (LA) is due to its versatility, especially in the food industry, and for being the precursor of poly-lactic acid, which demands a high-quality LA precursor. The overall LA production process still has some bottlenecks related to costs; thus, alternative substrates such as sugarcane juice may reduce the cost of the fermentation medium and provide a favorable environment for the Lactobacillus pentosus strain, which continues to be explored. In this context, this work presents the process of producing LA from sugarcane juice. The LA purification method is also described using different ion-exchange resins, both in packed columns and in a stirred tank. The fermentation kinetics showed the highest LA production of 113.74 g/L in 96 h, in which a productivity of 1.18 g LA/L∙h was reached. Among the purification techniques, the combined use of Amberlite IR120 and IRA-67 resins under agitation in a stirred tank was the best condition, and resulted in a final LA concentration of 189.11 g/L after 120 min, with 95% LA mass recovery. This result demonstrates a simplified way to use ion-exchange resins safely and in a controlled environment, and with process scale-up viability. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Agro-Industrial Wastes as Feedstock for Lactic Acid Production)
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16 pages, 1247 KiB  
Article
Lignocellulose Degrading Weizmannia coagulans Capable of Enantiomeric L-Lactic Acid Production via Consolidated Bioprocessing
by Punnita Pamueangmun, Aliyu Dantani Abdullahi, Md. Humayun Kabir, Kridsada Unban, Apinun Kanpiengjai, Joachim Venus, Kalidas Shetty, Chalermpong Saenjum and Chartchai Khanongnuch
Fermentation 2023, 9(8), 761; https://doi.org/10.3390/fermentation9080761 - 16 Aug 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1850
Abstract
Second-generation lactic acid production requires the development of sustainable and economically feasible processes and renewable lignocellulose biomass as a starting raw material. Weizmannia coagulans MA42 was isolated from a soil sample in Chiang Mai province, Thailand and showed the highest production of L-lactic [...] Read more.
Second-generation lactic acid production requires the development of sustainable and economically feasible processes and renewable lignocellulose biomass as a starting raw material. Weizmannia coagulans MA42 was isolated from a soil sample in Chiang Mai province, Thailand and showed the highest production of L-lactic acid and lignocellulolytic enzymes (cellulase, β-mannanase, xylanase, β-glucosidase, β-mannosidase, and β-xylosidase) compared to other isolates. Weizmannia coagulans MA42 was able to grow, secrete lignocellulolytic enzymes, and directly produce L-lactic acid in the medium containing various lignocellulosic feedstocks as the sole carbon source. Moreover, L-lactic acid production efficiency was improved after the substrates were pretreated with diluted sulfuric acid and diluted sodium hydroxide. The highest L-lactic acid production efficiency of 553.4 ± 2.9, 325.4 ± 4.1, 326.6 ± 4.4, 528.0 ± 7.2, and 547.0 ± 2.2 mg/g total available carbohydrate was obtained from respective pretreated substrates including sugarcane bagasse, sugarcane trash, corn stover, rice straw, and water hyacinth. It is suggested that structural complexity of the lignocellulosic materials and properties of lignocellulolytic enzymes are the key factors of consolidated bioprocessing (CBP) of lignocellulosic feedstocks to lactic acid. In addition, the results of this study indicated that W. coagulans MA42 is a potent bacterial candidate for CBP of a variety of lignocellulosic feedstocks to L-lactic acid production; however, further bioprocess development and genetic engineering technique would provide higher lactic acid production efficiency, and this would lead to sustainable lactic acid production from lignocellulosic feedstocks. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Agro-Industrial Wastes as Feedstock for Lactic Acid Production)
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Review

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19 pages, 2749 KiB  
Review
Underutilized Malaysian Agro-Industrial Wastes as Sustainable Carbon Sources for Lactic Acid Production
by Wan Abd Al Qadr Imad Wan-Mohtar, Nurul Izzah Khalid, Muhamad Hafiz Abd Rahim, Abdullah Amru Indera Luthfi, Nurul Solehah Mohd Zaini, Nur Akmal Solehah Din and Nurul Aqilah Mohd Zaini
Fermentation 2023, 9(10), 905; https://doi.org/10.3390/fermentation9100905 - 12 Oct 2023
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 5617
Abstract
Lactic acid is a versatile chemical with a wide range of industrial applications, including food additives as well as the production of biodegradable plastics, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics. LA can be produced through carbohydrate fermentation using various microorganisms, including lactic acid bacteria (LAB). However, [...] Read more.
Lactic acid is a versatile chemical with a wide range of industrial applications, including food additives as well as the production of biodegradable plastics, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics. LA can be produced through carbohydrate fermentation using various microorganisms, including lactic acid bacteria (LAB). However, the high production cost of commercial fermentation media for lactic acid raises concerns among researchers. Consequently, there is a demand for research to develop new, more affordable, and sustainable fermentation media. Utilizing underutilized agro-industrial wastes from Malaysia, particularly in the coconut, oil palm, rice, and sugarcane processing industries, offers several advantages. These include biomass reuse, cost-effective production of valuable chemicals, and agricultural waste reduction. This review discusses the potential of underutilized Malaysian agro-industrial waste from the coconut, oil palm, rice and sugarcane processing industries as sustainable carbon sources for LA production. The topics covered encompass the chemical and nutritional composition of the wastes, their potential for lactic acid fermentation with specific microorganisms, factors influencing lactic acid production, and potential applications. Additionally, this review also highlights the challenges and opportunities associated with reutilizing agricultural waste for lactic acid production. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Agro-Industrial Wastes as Feedstock for Lactic Acid Production)
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14 pages, 1341 KiB  
Review
Advanced Fermentation Techniques for Lactic Acid Production from Agricultural Waste
by Jiaqi Huang, Jianfei Wang and Shijie Liu
Fermentation 2023, 9(8), 765; https://doi.org/10.3390/fermentation9080765 - 17 Aug 2023
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 4837
Abstract
Lactic acid plays an important role in industrial applications ranging from the food industry to life sciences. The growing demand for lactic acid creates an urgent need to find economical and sustainable substrates for lactic acid production. Agricultural waste is rich in nutrients [...] Read more.
Lactic acid plays an important role in industrial applications ranging from the food industry to life sciences. The growing demand for lactic acid creates an urgent need to find economical and sustainable substrates for lactic acid production. Agricultural waste is rich in nutrients needed for microbial growth. Fermentative production of lactic acid from non-food-competing agricultural waste could reduce the cost of lactic acid production while addressing environmental concerns. This work provided an overview of lactic acid fermentation from different agricultural wastes. Although conventional fermentation approaches have been widely applied for decades, there are ongoing efforts toward enhanced lactic acid fermentation to meet the requirements of industrial productions and applications. In addition, agricultural waste contains a large proportion of pentose sugars. Most lactic-acid-producing microorganisms cannot utilize such reducing sugars. Therefore, advanced fermentation techniques are also discussed specifically for using agricultural waste feedstocks. This review provides valuable references and technical supports for the industrialization of lactic acid production from renewable materials. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Agro-Industrial Wastes as Feedstock for Lactic Acid Production)
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