P. PREMA, A. PALAVESAM, R. RAJESH KUMAR AND A. SAHUL HAMEEDU
Abstract
The ability of raw materials such as glucose, pine apple and molasses for alcohol fermentation related to various physicochemical factors was investigated. For this the production of ethanol was measured by using immobilized yeast strain, Saccharornyces cerevisiae on glucose, molasses and pine apple as substrates. Maximum biomass production of 17.5 g/1 was recorded at 40°C when glucose was used as substrate. The effect of pH on biomass production showed that the maximum production of 17.2 g/1 in glucose added medium at pH 6.0. The results on residual sugar level related to different parameters revealed that the production of ethanol established a negative relationship with sugar concentration. Among the tested substrates, the production of ethanol decreased in the order of glucose, molasses and pine apple respectively. The variation in ethanol production as a function of substrates and physicochemical parameters was statistically significant (P<0.05).