Use of wastewater sludge as a raw material for production of l-lactic acid

摘要

This study utilizes wastewater sludges to produce L-lactic acid, a precursor of biodegradable plastic. The high concentrations of cellulose contained in the sludge, derived from a paper manufacturing facility, have been found to be convertible toL-lactic acid at a rate as high as 6.91 g/L. To achieve such a high conversion rate, the sludge must be pretreated with cellulase. This pretreatment includes inoculation of the sludge with lactic acid bacteria, strain LAl, after the sludge has beensubjected to enzymatic hydrolysis.