Production of ethanol from alkali-pretreated sugarcane bagasse under the influence of different process parameters

The present study was designed to produce ethanol from sugarcane bagasse treated with 2.5% NaOH through a simultaneous saccharification and fermentation process using Saccharomyces cerevisiae G1. Various process parameters such as incubation temperature, incubation period, initial pH and nitrogen sources were studied to achieve the maximum yield of ethanol. The results showed that the optimum ethanol yield (5.90%) was achieved at an incubation temperature of 30 degrees C, initial pH 5.5, inoculum size 3% (v/v), after an incubation period of 96h. Among various nitrogen sources, ammonium sulphate was found to be the most suitable source for ethanol production. These findings indicate that the optimization of process parameters is necessary to make the fermentation process economical, and the medium designed in the present study could be exploited on a commercial scale after suitable processing.