Efficient production of polymer-grade L-lactic acid from corn stover hydrolyzate by thermophilic Bacillus sp. strain XZL4

Lactic acid has been identified as one of the top 30 potential building-block chemicals from biomass. Therefore, the search for cheap raw materials is an objective to reduce the production costs. Efficient polymer-grade L-lactic acid production was achieved in this report by a thermophilic strain Bacillus sp. XZL4 using corn stover hydrolyzate as sole carbon source. High L-lactic acid concentration (81.0 g L(-1)) was obtained from 162.5 g L(-1) concentrated corn stover hydrolyzate (total reducing sugar of 83.0 g L(-1)) with a volumetric productivity of 1.86 g L(-1) h(-1) (0–36 h) and a product yield of 0.98 g g(-1) total reducing sugars. This is the highest L-lactic acid concentration and yield reported from corn stover hydrolyzate. And the high optical purity of L-lactic acid obtained in this study also indicated that Bacillus sp. XZL4 is a promising polymer-grade L-lactic-acid producer from cellulosic biomass.