Bioethanol production from molasses by different strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Abstract

In commercial ethanol production producers often use sugar cane molasses as raw material due to their
abundance and low costs. The most employed microorganisms used for fermentation is Saccharomyces
cerevisiae yeasts due to their ability to hydrolyze sucrose from cane molasses into glucose and fructose,
two easily assimilable hexoses. The aim of this study was to evaluate the application of different strains of
Saccharomyces cerevisiae for sugar cane molasses in order to produce bioethanol. According to the
obtained results the strain D1 (Safdistil C-70) achieved higher values of the specific growth rate in
comparison with other strains used. The maximum ethanol productivity of 2.33 g/L.h was achieved around
36 hours of fermentation by using the yeast D1. Therefore, the optimal duration of the fermentation process
in technical and economic terms should be considered.