Lactic acid production from enzyme-thinned corn starch usingLactobacillus amylovorus

Summary An alternative process for industrial lactic acid production was deveooped using a starch degrading lactic acid producing organism,Lactobacillus amylovorus B-4542. In this process, saccharification takes place during the fermentation, eliminating the need for complete hydrolysis of the starch to glucose prior to fermentation. The cost savings of this alternative are substantial since it eliminates the energy input, separate reactor tank, time, and enzyme associated with the typical pre-fermentation saccharification step. The only pre-treatment was gelatinization and enzyme-thinning of the starch to overcome viscosity problems associated with high starch concentrations and to make the starch more rapidly degradable. This fermentation process was optimized for temperature, substrate level, nitrogen source and level, mineral level, B-vitamins, volatile fatty acids, pH, and buffer source. The rate of the reaction and the final level of lactic acid obtained in the optimized liquefied starch process was similar to that obtained withL. delbrueckii B-445 using glucose as the substrate.