Leguminose green juice as an efficient nutrient for l(+)-lactic acid production

- Production of l(+)lactic acid with leguminose green juice as nutrient source is proposed.
- The leguminose green juices are utilized without any prior pre-treatment, which ensure an economical production process.
- A final titer of 98.8 g/L after 30 h with l(+)-lactic acid purity of >99% was obtained.

Lactic acid is one of the most important building blocks for the production of bioplastic. Many investigations have been conducted to reduce the lactic acid production costs. In this work, the focus was put on the application of legume pressed juice or green juice as nutrient source. The pressed juice was utilized directly without prior pre-treatment and sterilization. Using two different alfalfa green juices and a clover green juice from two different harvest years as sole nutrients, non-sterile fermentations were performed at 52 °C and pH 6.0 with a thermotolerant strain Bacillus coagulans AT107. The results showed that alfalfa green juices generally were more suitable for high lactic acid production than clover green juices, presumably due to the higher nitrogen content. A final titer of 98.8 g/L after 30 h with l(+)-lactic acid purity of >99% was obtained.