Production of ethanol from cane molasses
Patil and Patil [120] studied the possibility of accelerating
the rate of ethanol production by supplementation
with 0.2% carbohydrates such as acacia gum,
chitin, xylan, pullulan, cellobiose, dextrin, inulin and
agar. They used two yeast strains Saccharomyces cerevisiae
NCIM 3526 and Saccharomyces uvarum NCIM
3509 for all fermentation reactions and found that,
among carbohydrate supplements used, chitin was most
eective in accelerating the rate of ethanol production
from cane molasses.
Approximately 5.38±5.60% ethanol was formed after
36 h at 37C from cane molasses containing 16% reducing
sugar with chitin supplements (0.2%) in the fermentation
medium. In the absence of any supplement,
more than 72 h was needed to produce the same amount
of ethanol. Chitin supplementation can reduce the fermentation
time to one-third and hence the cost of ethanol
production can be reduced. Patil and Patil [120] also
demonstrated that the rate of ethanol formation was
enhanced in the presence of chitin, acacia gum, xylan,
dextrin or cellobiose in the broth culture media. In the
same study, these researchers further observed that the
rate of ethanol production was higher for all the culture
strains used in the presence of chitin than simply with
yeast extract supplements or controls with no supplements.