Abstract
The second (lignocellulosic biomass and industrial wastes) and third (algal biomass) generation feedstocks gained substantial interest as a source of various value-added chemicals, produced by fermentation. Lactic acid is a valuable platform chemical with both traditional and newer applications in many industries. The successful fractionation, separation, and hydrolysis of lignocellulosic biomass result in sugars’ rich raw material for lactic acid fermentation. This review paper aims to summarize the investigations and progress in the last 5 years in lactic acid production from inexpensive and renewable resources. Different aspects are discussed—the type of raw materials, pretreatment and detoxification methods, lactic acid-producers (bacteria, fungi, and yeasts), use of genetically manipulated microorganisms, separation techniques, different approaches of process organization, as well as main challenges, and possible solutions for process optimization.
Highlights
The intensive economic growth during the past century is accompanied by high energy consumption
The present review aims to summarize in-depth the latest achievements in the field of fermentative lactic acid production from renewable sources –various substrates, microorganisms including gene manipulated, as well as process organization and downstream techniques
- in separation and purification step—i) low concentration of feeding stream; ii) more complex composition of fermentation broth in comparison with first-generation Lactic (2-hydroxypropanoic) acid (LA) production; iii) high cost of downstream processes; iv) not all separation methods are tested on second-generation LA; v) ecological problems connected with classical precipitation separation
Summary
The intensive economic growth during the past century is accompanied by high energy consumption. Nowadays fossil fuels (coil, petroleum, and natural gas) are still the main energy source and raw material for the production of various chemicals. The fossil fuels were formed and stored underground for millions of years and their extensive use has led to the situation where the present vegetation on Earth cannot treat the emitted carbon dioxide by photosynthesis (Damyanova and Beschkov 2020). One of the ways to cope with this global problem is to close the natural carbon cycle using renewable sources as a platform for biofuels and chemicals production, and enabling recycling of the biological sources and consumption of the resulting carbon dioxide by photosynthesis (Beschkov et al, 2020). Functional groups that need to be introduced through an expensive multistage oil oxidation process are present in plant materials such as carbohydrates
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