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An economic evaluation of the fermentative production of lactic acid from wheat flour

Akerberg, C and Zacchi, Guido LU (2000) In Bioresource Technology 75(2). p.119-126
Abstract
A process for the fermentative production of lactic acid from whole-wheat flour consisting of starch and bran containing nutrients is presented and an economical evaluation of the lactic acid production cost performed. Bottlenecks were identified and alternative processes were evaluated and compared. The costs of raw material, the sodium hydroxide in the fermentation step, and the conversion of lactate to lactic acid using electrodialysis were found to contribute considerably to the total production cost. Performing the fermentation step as a batchwise step was economically better than continuous fermentation. The lactic acid production cost can be reduced by lowering the pH and/or by recycling the sodium hydroxide produced by... (More)
A process for the fermentative production of lactic acid from whole-wheat flour consisting of starch and bran containing nutrients is presented and an economical evaluation of the lactic acid production cost performed. Bottlenecks were identified and alternative processes were evaluated and compared. The costs of raw material, the sodium hydroxide in the fermentation step, and the conversion of lactate to lactic acid using electrodialysis were found to contribute considerably to the total production cost. Performing the fermentation step as a batchwise step was economically better than continuous fermentation. The lactic acid production cost can be reduced by lowering the pH and/or by recycling the sodium hydroxide produced by electrodialysis to the fermentor. Using higher wheat flour concentrations reduced the lactic acid production cost and numerical optimisation of the process, with respect to the wheat flour concentration, showed that the optimal concentration corresponded to 116 g glucose/l, which resulted in a production cost of 0.833 US$/kg product. A Monte Carlo simulation of the total production cost for this concentration when the investment and operational cost and the price of the raw material were varied showed that the probability that the production cost could be lower than 0.90 or 1.0 US$/kg was 61% or 91%, respectively. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. (Less)
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author
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publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
lactic acid, economy, process, wheat flour
in
Bioresource Technology
volume
75
issue
2
pages
119 - 126
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • wos:000087857700004
  • scopus:0034105082
ISSN
1873-2976
DOI
10.1016/S0960-8524(00)00057-2
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
8ef9ae7c-79b7-4c6a-bf94-73a4d2c194d5 (old id 3911325)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 16:48:24
date last changed
2023-12-13 16:04:07
@article{8ef9ae7c-79b7-4c6a-bf94-73a4d2c194d5,
  abstract     = {{A process for the fermentative production of lactic acid from whole-wheat flour consisting of starch and bran containing nutrients is presented and an economical evaluation of the lactic acid production cost performed. Bottlenecks were identified and alternative processes were evaluated and compared. The costs of raw material, the sodium hydroxide in the fermentation step, and the conversion of lactate to lactic acid using electrodialysis were found to contribute considerably to the total production cost. Performing the fermentation step as a batchwise step was economically better than continuous fermentation. The lactic acid production cost can be reduced by lowering the pH and/or by recycling the sodium hydroxide produced by electrodialysis to the fermentor. Using higher wheat flour concentrations reduced the lactic acid production cost and numerical optimisation of the process, with respect to the wheat flour concentration, showed that the optimal concentration corresponded to 116 g glucose/l, which resulted in a production cost of 0.833 US$/kg product. A Monte Carlo simulation of the total production cost for this concentration when the investment and operational cost and the price of the raw material were varied showed that the probability that the production cost could be lower than 0.90 or 1.0 US$/kg was 61% or 91%, respectively. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.}},
  author       = {{Akerberg, C and Zacchi, Guido}},
  issn         = {{1873-2976}},
  keywords     = {{lactic acid; economy; process; wheat flour}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{2}},
  pages        = {{119--126}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Bioresource Technology}},
  title        = {{An economic evaluation of the fermentative production of lactic acid from wheat flour}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0960-8524(00)00057-2}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/S0960-8524(00)00057-2}},
  volume       = {{75}},
  year         = {{2000}},
}