Monday, May 5, 2008
9-25

Fermentative production of lactic acid from sugar cane: the first step to the acrylic acid biotechnological production

Betânia H. Lunelli, School of Chemical Engineering, State University of Campinas, Laboratory of Optimization, Design and Advanced Control, Cidade Universitária Zeferino Vaz, P.O. Box:6066, ZIP: 13081-970, Campinas - SP, Brazil, Rubens Maciel Filho, Department of Chemical Process – School of Chemical Engineering, State University of Campinas, Cidade Universitária, P.O. Box 6066, Campinas, Brazil, and Eduardo C. Vasco de Toledo, Petrobras SA, Paulínia Refinery, Rodovia SP 332, KM 132, P.O. Box: 1, Paulínia, Brazil.

Lactic acid was firstly discovered in 1780 and has two active forms called D- lactic acid and L-lactic acid. It is used in the food, cosmetic, pharmaceutical, chemicals, and polymer biodegradable production. Lactic acid can be produced by fermentative or chemical synthesis. The chemical synthesis is manly based on the hydrolysis of lactonitrile by strong acid, where a racemic mixture of the two forms (D- and L-) lactic acid is produced. The biotechnological production of lactic acid has received a significant interest, since it is an attractive process in terms of environmental viewpoint as well as  economic, due the combination of the low cost of production from sugar cane fermentation, reduction of dependency of fossil based feedstock and biocatalyst use. This process offers several advantages compared to chemical synthesis, for example the low cost of raw material, low temperature, avoidable pollution, reduced CO2 emission, and high specificity of the product. Bearing this in mind, this work presents descriptions and evaluations of suitable processes for lactic acid production by fermentative process and its application, with a particular focus on the lactic acid production from sugar cane, its estherification for lactate ester production and subsequent dehydration for acrylic acid ester production.

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