Fermentation of Sugarcane Molasses Using Zymomonas Mobilis for Enhanced Bioethanol Production
Keywords:
fermentation, sugarcane molasses, bioethanol, Zymomonas mobilisAbstract
Bioethanol is one of the leading alternative biofuel to fossil fuels and can be use in existing gasoline engines without any major modification. Bioethanol can be produced from sugar containing biomass fermentation using different potential strains. In this study, the gram negative, facultative anaerobic, rod shaped strain ‘Zymomonas mobilis’ was used as microorganism to produce bioethanol from sugar cane molasses using anaerobic fermentation. The study was conducted to investigate the optimized conditions for production of bioethanol through batch fermentation process. The fermentation unit was designed to determine the effect of process parameters such as fermentation temperature, pH, sugar concentration and supply of nutrients. The Zymomonas mobilis produced 9.3% (v/v) bioethanol by utilizing 16 g/100mL sugar with the fermentation efficiency 92.5%. The fertilized based nutrients were supplied to enhance the production of bioethanol yield. The bioethanol yield produced by using this strain in optimized conditions is in good compromise with previous study and also compared with commercially available yeast strain.