Lactic Acid Production by Lactobacillus Pentosus From Wood Extract Hydrolysates

Poly lactic acid (PLA) has been well known as an environmentally friendly and renewable polymer that has the potential to replace petroleum derived plastics. PLA can be produced from wood or woody biomass without direct competing with food resources. Hot-water extraction of woody biomass results in the separation of hemicelluloses from biomass. Hemicelluloses from angiosperm biomass consist of mainly five carbon constituents. In addition, hydrolyates of hot-water wood extracts contain a host of organic and inorganic compounds. The dominant sugar in the sugar maple wood extract hydrolysates is xylose. Successful utilization of wood extract hydrolysates in the production of PLA would help in driving the renewable biomass or biobased economy more favorable. Lactobacillus Pentosus has been adapted to utilizing concentrated wood extract hydrolysate. High yield (51 g/L or 92.17%) of L-(+)-lactic acid has been found from the wood extract hydrolysates, while by-product acetic acid (14.57 g/L) is also produced.