Developing a process to manufacture lactic acid from waste-derived sugars

The project aims to develop a process for manufacturing high grade lactic acid, which is a chemical used in many industrial sectors. Currently lactic acid is very costly to produce, primarily due to the cost of the food grade sugar and energy used, resulting in low sales margins. There is an opportunity to replace this source of sugar with a waste-derived sugar, with a range of commercial, environmental and social benefits. Fiberight has developed a process to recover value-added products from the municipal waste stream (landfill bound), including sugars derived from the paper component. The project will undertake research to identify the most sustainable and techno-economically advantageous process for the manufacture of lactic acid from waste-derived sugars, which can in turn be used to make polylactic acid; this can be used in the manufacture of bio-plastic products. Fiberight will work with academic and industrial partners Aberystwyth University, University of Bath, Biotech Consultants Limited and Unilever to undertake this research. The core team have worked together previously within a successful Innovate UK project where initial investigations demonstrated the ability to use Fiberight's sugars to produce a high yield of lactic acid.