Patent ID: 8338147

Claim:
A process for the production of mannitol by bioconversion, comprising the steps of bringing an initial concentration of at least 5 g dry cell weight per liter of free, mannitol-producing fructokinase-inactivated lactic acid bacterial cells into contact with a nutrient medium supplemented with a substrate convertible into mannitol, and a cosubstrate, in a bioreactor system, performing the bioconversion under conditions suitable for converting said substrate into mannitol including keeping the cells in a resting or a slow growing state such that the average volumetric productivity of mannitol is at least 10 g/L/h, separating the bacterial cells from the medium by filtration to obtain a cell-free solution, recovering from the cell-free solution the mannitol produced, and reusing the separated bacterial cells in the bioreactor system.