Polylactic Acid Production

Polylactic acid (PLA) is a polyester that has emerged as a biodegradable

alternative to commonly used industrial polymers such as nylon. However, a
significant barrier preventing its market growth has been the high cost associated
with its production. Therefore, a great deal of effort has been focused on bringing
its cost of production into the $0.35/lb to $0.65/lb range of other high volume,
general-use polymers. Keeping this goal in mind, your research department has
asked you to evaluate the feasibility of building a plant to manufacture 25,000
metric tons of PLA per year.
The overall process may be divided into three parts:
1. In the first portion of the process you will employ the bacterium Lactobacillus
delbrueckii to ferment glucose to lactic acid. As your company does not have
access to a pilot plant, you will need to consult the available literature on the
kinetics of lactic acid production via the above-mentioned organism, and
design your fermentor and conditions of the fermentation (pH, temperature,
media composition, etc) accordingly. A possible alternative is to produce lactic
acid using the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which can conduct the
fermentation at pH 3.5 - 4.0.

2. After the successful production of lactic acid, a multi-stage purification

process is necessary to prepare it for polymerization. You will have your
choice of two purification schemes.
a) The first involves the precipitation of calcium lactate (after treatment of the
crude lactic acid solution with calcium hydroxide), followed by treatment
with sulfuric acid. Here the disposal of large amounts of calcium sulfate
will prove to be a formidable challenge.
b) The second involves recovery by liquid-liquid extraction using a quaternary
alkyl amine (e.g., aliquot).

3. The final portion of the process will be the polymerization of the lactic acid
monomer to form the desired product, PLA.

References:
Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology
(http://www.mrw.interscience.wiley.com/kirk/),
Chem Library Call # TP9.E685 1991 Reference
Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry
(http://www.mrw.interscience.wiley.com/ueic/), Chem Library Call # TP9.U57
2003 Reference
Lactic acid, T.B. Vickroy, in Comprehensive Biotechnology (ed. Moo-Young, M.)
(Pergamon Press Ltd., New York, 1985), Chem Library Call # TP248.2 .C661
1985; v. 1-4 (1985)
Biotechnology: a comprehensive treatise in 8 volumes / edited by H.-J. Rehm and
G. Reed, Chem Library Call # QR53 .B56
The website below is that of Natureworks, a DOW-Carghill joint venture to
manufacture PLA.
http://www.natureworksllc.com/about-natureworks-llc/from-corn-to-plastic.aspx