Fermented Products

Organic acids
• Citric acid
• Lactic acid
• Gluconic acid
 Lactic acid

• Pharmaceutical and plastic industries

• Microbes - Numerous (inoculum vol. 5%)

Lactobacillus bulgaricus, L. delbrueckii, L. casei,
Streptococcus lactis, Rhizopus oryzae
• Selection of microbes largely depend on the carbon source.
Media & Culture conditions
• Carbon sources – Glucose, maltose, sucrose/lactose, carbon starch, potato

starch, rice starch, whey, molasses (sugar content 5-20%)

• Ammonium salts (may be from veg source), vitamin B complexes,
• Buffer – CaCO3 10%, high conc.
• pH – 5.5 - 6.5
• Temp – 45-50℃ (L. bulgaricus), 30℃ (L. casei, L. pentosus, Streptomyces)
• Aeration & agitation – gentle stirring (to avoid the crystallization of CaCO3)
• Duration – 5-10 days (12-13 glucose with pH 6.3-6.5 fermented within 72 hr)
• Yield – 93-95% (commercial)
 Recovery
Recovery – depends on the product grade (food, technical, plastic)
Steps involved: Filtration of ferment, addition of sulphuric acid

Washing of precipitated calcium sulphate

Impurities were removed by vegetable carbon, Evaporation give up to 25 % concentrate

Heavy metal removal using sodium ferrocyanide

Traces of contamination removed by passing into ion exchange resins

Removal of CaCO3 - Filtration (food), CaSO4.2H2O (technical), esterification using

methanol (plastic)