Jerusalem artichoke powder: A useful material in producing high-optical-purity l-lactate using an efficient sugar-utilizing thermophilic Bacillus coagulans strain

► Efficient high-optical l-lactate production from Jerusalem artichoke powder (JAP). ► Corn steep powder resulted in high l-lactate production. ► For the l-lactate fermentation based on JAP, SHF strategy is more efficient than SSF. ► High l-lactate production (134 g l−1) was obtained. ► The final product optical purity was 99%.