The US dairy industry produces 67 billion pounds of cheese whey annually. A waste by-product of cheese production, whey consists of water, milk sugar (lactose), casein (protein), and salts amounting to about 7% total solids. Ultrafiltration is used to concentrate cheese whey into a protein-rich foodstuff; however, it too produces a waste stream, known as ''whey permeate,'' (rejected water, lactose, and salts from the membrane). Whey permeate contains about 4.5% lactose and requires treatment to reduce the high BOD (biological oxygen demand) before disposal. Ab Initio, a small business with strong chemistry and dairy processing background, desired help in developing methods for bioconversion of whey permeate lactose into lactic acid. Lactic acid is an organic acid primarily used as an acidulant in the food industry. More recently it has been used to produce polylactic acid, a biodegradable polymer and as a new method to treat meat carcasses to combat E. coli bacteria. Conversion of whey permeate to lactic acid is environmentally sound because it produces a valued product from an otherwise waste stream. FM&T has expertise in bioconversion processes and analytical techniques necessary to characterize biomass functions. The necessary engineering and analytical services for pilot biomass monitoring, process development, and purification of crude lactic acid were available at this facility.