Recent progress on sugarcane-bagasse based lactic acid production: Technical advancements, potential and limitations

India is the largest producer of sugarcane in Asia and its sugar industry represents second agro-based industry. Sugarcane bagasse (SCB), a major waste from industries, indisputably lignocellulosic biomass (LCB) embedding ∼60 % carbohydrates, making it renewable source fermentable sugars. Despite unique chemical composition, SCB primarily used for co-generation. The enormous potential can be unleashed, if platform created using biochemical route. Sugars serve as feedstock fermentative production several fuels chemicals, considered key drivers rapid industrialization. US Department Energy has projected lactic acid (LA) one top biomass-derived chemicals owing to diverse applications multi-billion-dollar market. Currently, industrial LA predominated by microbial fermentation (∼90 %) which principally uses starchy or sugar-rich edible feedstocks. If low-cost manufacturing relying on LCB enabled, boon emerging economies like India, strategically strengthening their socio-economic status. present review showcases technical advances made exploiting route towards commercial realization with feedstock. It comprehensively discusses strategies developed area pretreatment, saccharification fermentation, bridging gap between lab-scale production. gives glimpse downstream processing SCB-derived LA, still nascent stage briefly talks about our perspective preferred choice scale-up “sugar industry” over other bio-based chemicals.