Fermentative production and isolation of lactic acid
AssigneeLactascan ApS
InventorBirgir Norddahl
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Abstract
A method for fermentation of lactic acid from a sugar-containing fermentation liquid in a fermentor by means of lactic acid-forming bacteria, in which whey protein is present or is added as a nutrient substrate for the lactic acid-forming bacteria, wherein at least one protease is added to the fermentor during the fermentation, so that hydrolysis of protein to amino acids takes place simultaneously with the fermentation of sugar into organic acid, and wherein lactic acid resulting from the fermentation is isolated from the fermentation liquid. Ammonia is preferably added to result in the formation of ammonium lactate, and lactic acid is preferably isolated by a process comprising ultra filtration, ion exchange, conventional electrodialysis and electrodialysis with bipolar membranes.
Claims11
A method for production of lactic acid from a sugar-containing fermentation liquid in a fermentor by means of lactic acid-forming bacteria, in which whey protein is present or is added as a nutrient substrate for the lactic acid-forming bacteria, the method comprising adding at least one protein-hydrolysing enzyme to the fermentor during fermentation, so that hydrolysis of protein to amino acids takes place simultaneously with the fermentation of sugar into organic acid, and isolating lactic acid resulting from the fermentation using an ultrafiltration step and subsequently at least two electrodialysis steps.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.