The aim of this work was to develop an economical bioprocess to produce the bio-ethanol from soybean
molasses at laboratory, pilot and industrial scales. A strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae (LPB-SC) was
selected and fermentation conditions were defined at the laboratory scale, which included the medium
with soluble solids concentration of 30% (w/v), without pH adjustment or supplementation with the mineral
sources. The kinetic parameters – ethanol productivity of 8.08 g/L h, YP/S 45.4%, YX/S 0.815%, m
0.27 h1 and lX 0.0189 h1 – were determined in a bench scale bioreactor. Ethanol production yields after
the scale-up were satisfactory, with small decreases from 169.8 L at the laboratory scale to 163.6 and
162.7 L of absolute ethanol per ton of dry molasses, obtained at pilot and industrial scales, respectively.