Extractive lactic acid fermentation using ion‐exchange resin

Lactic acid fermentation is an end‐product‐inhibited reaction. The restriction imposed by lactic acid on its fermentation can be avoided by extractive fermentation techniques. Studies were performed by attaching an ion‐exchange resin packed column with a 2‐L fermentor for separation of lactic acid. The fermentation, in a conventional batch mode, resulted in a lactic acid yield of 0.828 g · g −1 and a lactic acid productivity of 0.313 g · L −1 · h −1 . However, these could be further enhanced to 0.929 g · g −1 and 1.665 g · L −1 · h −1 by extractive fermentation techniques. The effect of temperature on extractive fermentation was remarkable and has been included in this work.