Obtaining lactic acid through discontinuing fermentation using sugarcane molasses, cassava by-product meal, fructose and cassava starch

Resumo

The lactic acid presents its larger application in the Food Industry. It is also used in the Textile, Pharmaceutical, Chemical, Cosmetic and Packaging Industries. Due to this wide applicability, the acquisition of lactic acid through fermentation is a widely studied process, searching for alternatives for the increase in productivity and the decrease in the production costs. Therefore, this work has the purpose of evaluating the influence of different types of cultivation, proceeding from the agro-industry, regarding the production of lactic acid through fermentation, using Lactobacillus casei. In order to do that, it was used as the cultivation media, sugarcane molasses, cassava by-product crumbs, fructose and cassava starch, previously hydrolyzed when necessary and supplemented with 2% yeast extract and 2% peptone. Fermentations were performed at 37º for 48 hours under constant agitation. The fermentation processes were followed by analysis such as: lactic acid dosage; reductive sugar decrease; biomass; cellular viability and pH. When the results were analyzed it was noticed a larger decrease of the reductive sugar and a larger production of lactic acid when the sugarcane molasses were used as cultivation media. Therein it may be suggested that the hydrolyzed sugarcane molasses presented itself more efficient in promoting the microorganism growth. Such result has also been observed by other authors in the researched literature and it can be explained by the fact that the hydrolyzed sugarcane molasses presents in its composition, besides glucose and fructose, other nutrients able to favor the growth of the microorganism and, consequently, the production of the lactic acid when compared to other medias used in this work.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.14685/rebrapa.v1i2.23