ISSN print edition: 0366-6352 ISSN electronic edition: 1336-9075 Registr. No.: MK SR 9/7 Published monthly

Production of ethanol from waste paper using immobilized yeasts

Miroslava Zichová, Eva Stratilová, Jiřina Omelková, Renáta Vadkertiová, Libor Babák, and Michal Rosenberg

Institute of Food Science and Biotechnology, Faculty of Chemistry, Brno University of Technology, Brno, Czech Republic

E-mail: xczichova@fch.vutbr.cz

Abstract: This work is aimed at a selection of yeast strains suitable for simultaneous saccharification and fermentation of waste paper. The waste paper, as a lignocellulosic material, represents an unconventional source for the production of ethanol which is a promising alternative fuel. The yeast strains Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Pichia kudriavzevii produced the highest amounts of ethanol at 30 °C and were also resistant at 40 °C during the first 92 h of fermentation. These two strains were immobilized by entrapment into poly(vinyl alcohol) hydrogel lens-shaped particles LentiKats^®. The immobilized S.cerevisiae was a better ethanol producer and retained higher metabolic activity in repeated batch fermentations than P.kudriavzevii. The immobilized S. cerevisiae was also suitable for a long-term storage, with 23% decrease in the ethanol production ability after 1-year storage of yeast cells.

Keywords: Bioethanol; Immobilization; Waste paper; Yeast

Full paper is available at www.springerlink.com.

DOI: 10.1007/s11696-016-0036-0

Chemical Papers 71 (3) 553–561 (2017)