AUTHOR=Tsapekos Panagiotis , Alvarado-Morales Merlin , Baladi Samin , Bosma Elleke F. , Angelidaki Irini 

TITLE=Fermentative Production of Lactic Acid as a Sustainable Approach to Valorize Household Bio-Waste

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Sustainability

VOLUME=1

YEAR=2020

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/sustainability/articles/10.3389/frsus.2020.00004

DOI=10.3389/frsus.2020.00004

ISSN=2673-4524

ABSTRACT=<p>Source-sorted organic portion of municipal solid waste (bio-waste) can be fermented to lactic acid, a platform chemical widely used in the production of biodegradable polymers, green solvents, and chemicals. In the present study, fermentation of bio-waste using lactic acid producing bacterium (LAB) <italic>Lactobacillus delbrueckii</italic> was investigated. Results showed that adding 10% (v/v) of <italic>L. delbrueckii</italic> as LAB inoculum along with pH adjustment to 6.2 had the highest lactic acid yield (0.65 g/g<sub>total sugars</sub>). Nevertheless, pH adjustment without bio-augmentation could also result in relatively high yield of lactic acid (0.57 g/g<sub>total sugars</sub>). Furthermore, enzymatic hydrolysis was applied to boost the lactic acid production slightly increasing the yield to 0.72 g/g<sub>total sugars</sub>. Thus, fermentative production of lactic acid can be achieved without the addition of enzymes to reduce production costs. Overall, the results indicate that bio-waste could be a suitable substrate for the production of lactic acid.</p>