Lactic acid is an important biomolecule with a substantial market share. Currently, investments in the area are concentrated on new substrates and technologies, in order to boost production and separation performance. Molecular distillation has been recognized as a promising technology in the separation, purification, and concentration of natural products and hence with potential for application in the lactic acid production process. In this study, lactic acid was produced by fermentation using first (1G) and second-generation (2G) substrates, producing a complex mixture of lactic acid and residual sugars. The influence of the residual sugars, such as glucose, sucrose, and xylose, was investigated. For the 1G process, the results showed that the highest lactic acid concentration (99.51 g/L) can be obtained using the feed stream with the lowest sugars composition. For the 2G process, the highest lactic acid concentration reached (75.87 g/L) was lower than that observed for 1G experiments. The concentration of lactic acid using 1G or 2G lactic acid were, respectively, 2.73 times and 2.12 times higher than the initial raw material concentration, without the use of any extra solvent. The final process analysis showed that the use of molecular distillation for lactic acid downstream has different challenges to defeat for the separation of 1G and 2G lactic acid, which is relevant since many different feedstocks may be used in the lactic acid production.

乳酸是具有重要市场份额的重要生物分子。当前，该领域的投资集中在新的基材和技术上，以提高生产和分离性能。在天然产物的分离，纯化和浓缩中，分子蒸馏被认为是一种有前途的技术，因此具有在乳酸生产过程中应用的潜力。在这项研究中，乳酸是通过使用第一（1G）和第二代（2G）底物发酵而产生的，产生了乳酸和残留糖的复杂混合物。研究了残留糖（例如葡萄糖，蔗糖和木糖）的影响。对于1G工艺，结果表明乳酸浓度最高（99。使用糖含量最低的进料流可获得51 g / L）。对于2G工艺，达到的最高乳酸浓度（75.87 g / L）低于1G实验中观察到的浓度。在不使用任何额外溶剂的情况下，使用1G或2G乳酸的乳酸浓度分别比初始原料浓度高2.73倍和2.12倍。最终过程分析表明，对于1G和2G乳酸的分离，对下游乳酸分子蒸馏的使用面临着不同的挑战，这是很重要的，因为许多不同的原料都可以用于乳酸生产中。在不使用任何额外溶剂的情况下，使用1G或2G乳酸的乳酸浓度分别比初始原料浓度高2.73倍和2.12倍。最终过程分析表明，对于1G和2G乳酸的分离，下游使用乳酸分子蒸馏技术面临着不同的挑战，这是很重要的，因为许多不同的原料都可以用于乳酸生产中。在不使用任何额外溶剂的情况下，使用1G或2G乳酸的乳酸浓度分别比初始原料浓度高2.73倍和2.12倍。最终过程分析表明，对于1G和2G乳酸的分离，下游使用乳酸分子蒸馏技术面临着不同的挑战，这是很重要的，因为许多不同的原料都可以用于乳酸生产中。