Hydrolysate of Jerusalem artichoke was applied for the production of L-lactic acid by immobilized Lactococcus lactis cells in a fibrous bed bioreactor system. Preliminary experiments had indicated that the high quality hydrolysate, which was derived from the 40 min acid treatment at 95 degrees C and pH 1.8, was sufficient to support the cell growth and synthesis of L-lactic acid. With the addition of 5 g/l yeast extract, the fermentative performance of free cell system was evidently improved. After the basal settlement of hydrolysate based fermentation, the batch mode and the fed-batch mode fermentation were carried out in the free cell system and the fibrous bed bioreactor system, respectively. In all cases the immobilized cells presented the superior ability to produce L-lactic acid. The comparison of batch mode and fed-batch mode also indicated that the growth-limiting feeding strategy could reduce the lag phase of fermentation process and enhance the production of L-lactic acid. The achieved maximum concentration of L-lactic acid was 142 g/l in the fed-batch mode. Subsequent repeated-batch fermentation of the fibrous bed bioreactor system had further exhibited the persistence and stability of this system for the high production of L-lactic acid in a long term. Our work suggested the great potential of the fibrous bed bioreactor system and hydrolysate of J. artichoke in the economical production of L-lactic acid at industrial scale. (c) 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved,