Nowadays, lactic acid fermentation from non-food feedstock, such as renewable biomass, has been intensively interested. Among the various potential renewable biomass sources, lignocellulosic biomass is large quantities, widespread distribution and comparatively low price. Cellulose is the main component of the lignocellulose with the content approximately 40-50 % of dry weight. To improve the efficient utilization of cellulose, the selection and application of new bacteria strains producing lactic acid from cellobiose is one of the powerful solutions. Lactic acid bacterium (LAB), Lactobacillus plantarum HC2, was isolated from the traditional lactic acid fermentation. We studied the different parameters that affect the productivity for example, initial cellobiose concentration, temperature, initial pH, shaking speed and inoculum size. Response surface methodology (RSM) was applied to determine the optimal condition based on Box-Behnken design experiments. The result showed that the optimal condition was performed at temperature 36oC, 10% inoculation, initial cellobiose concentration of 11 g/l, initial pH was controlled at 6,2 by NaOH 2M and rotation at 100 rpm. The concentration of lactic acid was determined by high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC). In the optimal condition, the lactic acid content was 8,83 g/l corresponding to fermentation efficiency up to 80,27 %.
