Wheat bran biorefinery--an insight into the process chain for the production of lactic acid

The present study investigates a wheat bran biorefinery including major processing steps pre-extraction, pre-treatment and lactic acid fermentation. Concerning the dry mass distribution, during the pre-extraction 32% of the feedstock was recovered, offering some perspectives for applications in food area. The pre-treatment (hydrothermal/enzymatic hydrolysis) of the remaining cake solubilized 34% of dry mass and led to a fermentable sugar concentration of 21g/L. The fermentation resulted in a lactic acid yield of 0.73g/g substrate. Concentrating the fermentation feed via nanofiltration did not improve the lactic acid productivity. Taking into account that Lactobacillus pentosus, a heterofermentative microorganism was used, the dry mass balance revealed a product yield of 47% (32% extract, 15% lactic acid). Based on a theoretical consideration involving a cellulolytic enzyme production (10% feedstock allocation) and lignin utilization, under optimized conditions a maximum product yield of around 80% (35% extract, 39% lactic acid, 6% lignin) could be expected.