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Published on: December 12, 2013
Integrated production of lactic acid and biomass on distillery stillage
Aleksandra P Djukić-Vuković1, Ljiljana V Mojović, Maja S Vukašinović-Sekulić
1Department of Biochemical Engineering and Biotechnology, Faculty of Technology and Metallurgy, University of Belgrade, Karnegijeva 4, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia. adjukic@tmf.bg.ac.rs
Abstract:
The possibilities of parallel lactic acid and biomass production in batch and fed-batch fermentation on distillery stillage from bioethanol production were studied. The highest lactic acid yield and productivity of 92.3 % and 1.49 g L(-1) h(-1) were achieved in batch fermentation with initial sugar concentration of 55 g L(-1). A significant improvement of the process was achieved in fed-batch fermentation where the concentration of lactic acid was increased to 47.6 % and volumetric productivity for 21 % over the batch process. A high number of Lactobacillus rhamnosus ATCC 7469 viable cells of 10(9) CFU ml(-1) was attained at the end of fed-batch fermentation. The survival of 92.9 % of L. rhamnosus cells after 3 h of incubation at pH 2.5 validated that the fermentation media remained after lactic acid removal could be used as a biomass-enriched animal feed thus making an additional value to the process.
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