One-factor-at-a-time and response surface statistical designs for improved lactic acid production from beet molasses by Enterococcus hirae ds10

In this study, the production of lactic acid (LA) from beet molasses, a by-product of the beet sugar industry was investigated using newly isolated potential lactic acid bacteria. Isolate ds10 was selected amongst 138 bacterial isolates obtained from natural sources. This isolate was identified as Enterococcus hirae ds10 based on morphological, biochemical and molecular characteristics using 16S rRNA sequence. Direct utilization of molasses achieved low LA production at 2.01 g L-1. Different molasses' pretreatment methods were investigated. Molasses treated with EDTA were considered as the best substrate achieving effective LA production at 11.39 +/- 2.07 g L-1. Furthermore, medium constituent was optimized, where supplementation of 0.5% (w/v) ammonium chloride and 0.05% (w/v) yeast extract exhibited the best fermentation medium. Further optimization of fermentation factors was performed by using one-factor-at-a-time (OFAT) and response surface Minitab 18 software approaches. OFAT technique achieved the maximum LA production of 25.4 +/- 0.42 g L-1 after 24 h at sugar molasses conc., 4% (w/v); inoculum size, 10% (v/v); pH, 8.0; and temperature, 40 degrees C. Whereas, response surface Minitab 18 software approach resulted in a 60% increase in LA production achieving 40.69 g L-1 at 60 g L-1 sugar concentration, 0.625 g L-1 yeast extract, 40 degrees C, pH 8 and 9.5% inoculum size. The optimization strategy in this study could achieve a 20-fold increase in LA production as compared to initial production.