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Abstract
A Rotating Disk Contactor (RDC) was designed to perform the L-lactic acid fermentation with a filamentous fungus, Rhizopus oryzae, which was immobilized on the surface of rotating disks. The bioreactor was operated in repeated batch or continuous modes. The growth rate of the fungi was about 1 mm/day perpendicular to the disks' surface. A weak-base anionic resin, D354, was selected which was high in selectivity for lactic acid separation. Even at low concentration, the ion exchange capability was about 0.5 g Lac/g dry resin. A coupled process of L-lactic acid fermentation and ion-exchange separation was evaluated experimentally. The results indicated that the pH value of the fermentation broth could be maintained at pH 3.5 without any addition of alkali. The conversion ratio of glucose to L-lactic acid was about 0.7 g/g and the fermentation rate was able to reach as high as 62.5g glucose per hour per square meter of the disk surface area. A mathematical model was proposed to describe the simultaneous process of L-lactic acid fermentation and separation by ion exchange, in which the thickness increase of mycelia as well as the substrate and product inhibitions were included. The model simulation was in good agreement with the experimental data.