Lactic acid production from kitchen waste with a newly characterized strain of Lactobacillus plantarum

To enhance the fermentative production of lactic acid (LA) from kitchen waste, a strain of high-yield lactic acid bacterium, designated as TD46, was characterized and its fermentation profiles were investigated. The strain TD46 could produce 91.34 g 1^-1 of LA from 100 g 1^-1 of glucose in 96 h of fermentation at pH 5.5-6.0 and 30°C. On the basis of its fermentation ability to 49 carbohydrates and additional physio-biochemical tests, the strain TD46 was tentatively identified as Lactobacillus plantarum. The strain TD46 produced 28.85 g 1^-1 of LA from non-autoclaved kitchen waste in 48 h of fermentation at pH 5.5-6.0, which was 75.1% higher than that of the spontaneous fermentation without inoculum (control). Meanwhile, 0.39 g g^-1 of LA yield and 0.60 g 1^-1 h^-1 of average productivity were reached, respectively. This study shows that enhancement of LA production from kitchen waste can be realized by using the high-yield strain TD46.