Co-generation of ethanol and L-lactic acid from corn stalk under a hybrid process

BACKGROUND: Corn stover, as one important lignocellulosic material, has characteristics of low price, abundant output and easy availability. Using corn stover as carbon source in the fermentation of valuable organic chemicals contributes to reducing the negative environmental problems and the cost of production. In ethanol fermentation based on the hydrolysate of corn stover, the conversion rate of fermentable sugars is at a low level because the native S. cerevisiae does not utilize xylose. In order to increase the conversion rate of fermentable sugars deriving from corn stover, an effective and energy saving biochemical process was developed in this study and the residual xylose after ethanol fermentation was further converted to L-lactic acid. RESULTS: In the hybrid process based on the hydrolysate of corn stover, the ethanol concentration and productivity reached 50.50 g L⁻¹ and 1.84 g L⁻¹ h⁻¹, respectively, and the yield of ethanol was 0.46 g g⁻¹. The following fermentation of L-lactic acid provided a product titer of 21.50 g L⁻¹ with a productivity of 2.08 g L⁻¹ h⁻¹, and the yield of L-lactic acid was 0.76 g g⁻¹. By adopting a blank aeration before the inoculation of B. coagulans LA1507 and reducing the final cell density, the L-lactic acid titer and yield reached 24.25 g L⁻¹ and 0.86 g g⁻¹, respectively, with a productivity of 1.96 g L⁻¹ h⁻¹. CONCLUSIONS: In this work, the air pumped into the fermentor was used as both the carrier gas for single-pass gas stripping of ethanol and the oxygen provider for the aerobic growth of B. coagulans LA1507. Ethanol was effectively separated from the fermentation broth, while the residual medium containing xylose was reused for L-lactic acid production. As an energy-saving and environmental-friendly process, it introduced a potential way to produce bioproducts under the concept of biorefinery, while making full use of the hydrolysate of corn stover.