Lactic-and Glycolic Acid Production

Lactic- and glycolic acids can be manufactured by (a) chemical synthesis or (b) carbohydrate fermentation. 

The commercial process for chemical synthesis of lactic acid is based on lacto-nitrile. Hydrogen cyanide is added to acetaldehyde in the presence of a base to produce lactonitrile. This reaction occurs in the liquid phase at high atmospheric 

Glycolic acid can be produced via fermentation process [6] from glycolo-nitrile hydrolysis by mineral acid, such as sulfuric acid [7,8]. Both processes produce a multi-component solution with the acid concentration typically less than 10 wt% for fermentation technology, and less than 40 wt% for glycolo-nitrile hydrolysate. The acid can be produced by the enzymatic conversion (typically the enzyme catalyst used is nitrilase or a combination of a nitrile hydratase and an amidase) of glycolonitrile which results in the production of an aqueous solution of ammonium glycolate [9]. 

3 Separation of Lactic- and Glycolic Acid from Fermentation Broth 

In recent years, the interest in lactic- and glycolic acid recovery from fermentation broth has increased. This interest is due to an increase in the demand for pure, naturally produced lactic- and glycolic acid, mainly for the food industry 

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