Production of Bio-ethanol from Sugar Molasses Using Saccharomyces Cerevisiae

Abstract

Saccharomyces cerevisiae is the cheapest strain available for the conversion of biomass substrate. In the present study, it is used for bio-ethanol production from sugar molasses. The influencing parameters that affect the production of bio-ethanol from sugar molasses are optimized. The optimal values of the parameters such as temperature, pH, substrate concentration, enzyme concentration and fermentation period are found to be 35°C, 4.0, 300 gm/l, 2 gm/l and 72 h respectively. Under this optimum operating condition the maximum of 53% bio-ethanol yield is achieved. The rate of formation of bio-ethanol is found to be well fitted with Michael-Menten equation and the rate constants such as V_max and K_m are found to be 0.71 mol/l sec and 81.63 mol/l respectively.