Use of dry yeast cells as a cheap nitrogen source for lactic acid production by thermophilic Bacillus coagulans WCPIO-4

Dry yeast cells （DYC） were used as a cheap nitrogen source to replace expensive yeast extract （YE） for L-lactic acid production by thermophilic Bacillus coagulans. Cassava starch （200 g. L1） was converted to L-lactic acid by simultaneous saccharification and fermentation using Bacillus coagulans WCP10-4 at 50℃ in the presence of 20g·L-1 of DYC, giving 148.1 g·L-1 of L- lactic acid at 27 h with a productivity of 5.5 g·L-1·h-1 and a yield of 92%. In contrast, 154.4 g·L-1 of lactic acid was produced at 24 h with a productivity of 6.4 g·L-1. hl and a yield of 96% when equal amount of YE was used under the same conditions. Use of pre-autolyzed DYC at 50℃ for overnight slightly improved the lactic acid titer （154.5g·L-1） and productivity （7.7g·L-1·h-1） but gave the same yield （96%）.