Open AccessEthanol and lactic acid production from sugar and starch wastes by anaerobic acidification
Author(s) -
CordRuwisch Ralf,
Charles Wipa
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
engineering in life sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.547
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1618-2863
pISSN - 1618-0240
DOI - 10.1002/elsc.201700178
Subject(s) - fermentation , starch , lactic acid , food science , mixed acid fermentation , chemistry , acidogenesis , sugar , ethanol fuel , anaerobic exercise , chemostat , ethanol , lactic acid fermentation , biochemistry , pulp and paper industry , anaerobic digestion , biology , bacteria , organic chemistry , physiology , genetics , methane , engineering
Anaerobic conversion of carbohydrates can generate various end‐products. Besides physical parameters such as pH and temperature, the types of carbohydrate being fermented influences the fermentation pattern. Under uncontrolled pH, microbial mixed cultures from activated sludge and anaerobic digester sludge anaerobically produced ethanol from glucose while producing lactic acid from starch conversion. This trend was not only observed in batch trials. Also, continuous chemostat operation of anaerobic digester sludge resulted in the reproducible predominance of ethanol fermentation from glucose solution and lactic acid production from starch. Different feeding regimes and substrate availability (shock load versus continuous feeding) in glucose fermentation under non‐controlled pH did not affect the ethanol production as the major end product. Shifts in feed composition from glucose to starch and vice versa result in an immediate change of fermentation end products formation.