Lactic acid is considered as a very
important chemical compound with significant applications in pharmaceuticals,
cosmetics and especially in the food industry. New applications, such as
degradable plastics made from poly (lactic) acid, have the potential to greatly
expand the market for lactic acid, if more economical processes could be
developed.
Industrial processes for the production of lactic acid typically use
sucrose from cane and beet sugar, whey containing lactose and maltose and
dextrose from hydrolyzed starch. The pulp of carob (Ceratonia siliqua L.) podscontains high contents of sugar (sucrose, fructose and glucose) and can beemployed as a raw material for the production of lactic acid.