The first stageconsists of reacting 10 wt.

% calcium lactate (obtained as a

fermentation product) with concentrated H2SO4 to yield
dilute crude lactic acid and calcium sulfate as shown in
Figure 1. The sulfate is separated out by means of a centrifuge
and the crude lactic acid is concentrated to 60 wt. %
by passing it through a falling film evaporator.

A 7-l magnetically stirred fermentor with a vessel of

180 mm diameter and 7.0 dm3 total volume was used in this
study. The fermentor was equipped with a four-blade turbine
stirrer. The blade was 64 mm in diameter and 16 mm
in height. The center of the stirrer was 58 mm above the
bottom of the vessel, and the bottom of the vessel was at.
An original basket with three baZes placed 5 mm from
the fermentor wall was used.

Fermentor, Hydrolysis Reactor, Falling Film Evaporator, Filter Press, Crystallizer, Centrifugal Filter, Liquid-liquid
Extraction(Solvent Extraction)

The supernatant liquid is decanted to a storage vat and the sludge

filtered in a filter press. For the production of the refined grades of
calcium lactate and lactic acid, the solution should be decolorized and
further clarified before concentrating. A small percentage of vegetable
carbon is added, and the solution is heated to boiling and maintained at
this temperature for 15 minutes.
Heating is then discontinued and, with the agitator running, hydrated
lime is added slowly until the reaction of the liquid is approximately pH
10.0. Stirring is continued until a sample taken from the vat separates
sharply into a grayish precipitate and a clean supernatant liquid. The
batch is then filtered in a filter press, yielding a clean, water-white
solution of calcium lactate.

The neutral calcium lactate solution is evaporated to 15° Be. (Sp.gr.

1.115) and pumped to the crystallizers. Cold water is circulated in the
jacket of the crystallizer until no further crystallization takes place;
this requires 10-12 hours. The wet crystalline mass is shoveled into the
basket of the centrifugal filter in which the mother liquor is spun out
and the crystals washed several times with small quantities of cold water.

The calcium sulfate is removed by filtration in a filter press equipped with

rubber plates and frames which avoids corrosion difficulties, and washed with
water. The washings are kept separate from the filtrate and are used to dissolve
calcium lactate in a subsequent operation, or to dilute the lactic acid
solution to 22%, if that final concentration is desired.

Fermentation Broth
Fermentation of glucose was carried out using a
mutant strain, Lactobacillus delbrueckii NCIM 2025.
A glass-lined stirred reactor having a capacity of 20
L was used for fermentation. The fermentation was
carried out at 43 °C with speed of agitation of 100
rpm. Autoclaved CaCO3 was added frequently to
maintain the pH of fermentation. Initially, the culture
was grown in 1 L of growth medium for 4 days. The
culture was then made up to a final volume of 5 L.
This culture was transferred to the fermentation vessel.
The fermentation was carried out for 110 hrs.
The final lactic acid concentration in the fermentation
broth was 36 g.L-1. The pH of this fermentation
broth was adjusted to 3.00 by adding concentrated
H2SO4. This solution was centrifuged at 5000 rpm
for 1 hour to separate calcium sulfate. The filtrate
and washings were concentrated in the evaporator
under vacuum to get crude lactic acid. The crude
lactic acid so obtained was a viscous, dark reddish
brown liquid and had impurities of fermentation. It
was treated with activated charcoal and filtered to get
transparent and clear dilute crude lactic acid, which
was used for further work.

The “Organic phase” in this paper refers to the

mixture of the extractant and the diluents. In a typical
experiment, 30 mL trioctylamine of the aqueous
feed solution containing lactic acid, 30 mL of the
organic solvent system containing 15mL of trioctylamine
as extractant and 15mL of diluents were
transferred to a glass vessel having a jacket for the
continuous flow of water from a water bath to maintain
the temperature at 0 °C.