Kinetics of lactic acid fermentation from sugarcane bagasse by Lactobacillus pentosus

Sugarcane bagasse is a residue of the sugar industry that presents a high content of hemicelluloses being one of the most abundant and available agricultural residues in Mexico with great potential to be used in fermentations. The bagasse was characterized and chemically treated to obtain samples of hydrolysates which were supplemented with nutrients and fermented with Lactobacillus pentosus to obtain lactic acid. The hydrolysates were vacuum evaporated to increase the initial concentration of sugars until obtain 7.77 gL^-1 of glucose, 64.25 gL^-1 of xylose and 3.67 gL^-1 of arabinose. Under these conditions, lactic acid values were reached 55.437 gL^-1 (QP= 0.430 gL^-1h^-1, YP/S= 0.724 gg^-1; YP/S theoretical=81.43%) observing a clear inhibition of the product after 120 hours. The aim of this work was the development of fermentation kinetics for the biotechnological obtaining of lactic acid from sugarcane bagasse hydrolysates concentrated and not concentrated with L. pentosus.

Keywords: lignocellulosic biomass, hydrolysates, lactic acid, L. pentosus.