Production of lactic acid and fructose from media with cane sugar using mutant of Lactobacillus delbrueckii NCIM 2365

Abstract

To examine the potential of Lactobacillus delbrueckii mutant, Uc-3 to produce lactic acid and fructose from sucrose-based media. The mutant of L. delbrueckii NCIM 2365 was cultivated in shake flask containing hydrolysed cane sugar (sucrose)-based medium. The lactic acid yield and volumetric productivity with hydrolysed cane concentration up to 200 g l(-1) were in the range of 92-97% of the theoretical value and between 2.7 and 3.8 g l(-1) h(-1), respectively. The fructose fraction of the syrup produced was more than 95% when the total initial sugar concentration in the medium was higher (150-200 g l(-1)). There are no unwanted byproducts detected in the fermentation broth. We demonstrated that L. delbrueckii mutant Uc-3 was able to utilize glucose preferentially to produce lactic acid and fructose from hydrolysed cane sugar in batch fermentation process. These findings will be useful in the production of lactic acid and high fructose syrups using media with high concentrations of sucrose-based raw materials. This approach can lead to modification of the traditional fermentation processes to obtain value-added byproducts, attaining better process economics.