Agricultural residues as feedstocks for lactic acid fermentation

Enormous amounts of agricultural residues are produced globally every year from crops and mostly burned or disposed. Alternatively, the use of agricultural residues as feedstocks in biotechnological processes provides an innovative way to convert 'no-value' material into 'value-added' products. This chapter introduces to opportunities of using agricultural feedstocks in fermentative lactic acid production. Examples of fermentations using straw, rapeseed residues and grass press juice as substrates are shown. Furthermore, pre-treatment methods and future perspectives of agricultural residues as substrates for the fermentative production of lactic acid are presented.