The aim of this work was to study the fermentation of whey for the production of L(+) lactic acid using
Lactobacillus casei. The effect of different process parameters such as pH of the medium, temperature, inoculum
size, age of inoculum, agitation and incubation time was monitored to enhance the lactose conversion in whey to
L(+) lactic acid. Fermentations were performed without any pH control. The optimization of the fermentation
conditions resulted in significant decrease in fermentation time, besides increase in lactose conversion to lactic
acid. The optimized process conditions resulted in high lactose conversion (95.62%) to L(+) lactic acid production
(33.73 g/L) after an incubation period of 36 h.
