A comparative study of lignocellulosic ethanol productivities by Kluyveromyces marxianus and Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Abstract

The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is commonly employed in industrial ethanol production, regardless of the capability of Kluyveromyces marxianus strains to produce ethanol at similar or higher levels and on inhibitory conditions. Therefore, in this work strains of S. cerevisiae (ethanol RED and AR5) and K. marxianus (SLP1 and OFF1) were compared for ethanol production from sugarcane bagasse (SCB) and wheat straw (WS) hydrolysates. As it is known, during the lignocellulosic hydrolysis not only free sugars were obtained (SCB, g L−1: glucose 7.64, xylose 8.38, arabinose 2.43; and WS, g L−1: glucose 6.07, xylose 6.36, arabinose 2.09) but also growth inhibitors of yeast such as hydroxymethylfurfural and furfural that could modify the fermentation capability. The volumetric ethanol productivity (Q p) was evaluated, and it was observed that the K. marxianus SLP1 was the most efficient for ethanol production reaching a Q p of 0.292 and 0.250 g L−1 h−1 on SCB and WS hydrolysates, respectively. In contrast, S. cerevisiae AR5 and ethanol RED exhibited a reduced Q p on SCB, but similar values of Q p to K. marxianus OFF1 on WS. The results obtained show that it is possible to select K. marxianus yeast strains for ethanol production using SCB and WS hydrolysates obtaining higher Q p than S. cerevisiae yeast strains. Considering the efficiency of ethanol production and the tolerance to inhibitors, K. marxianus strain SLP1 possesses a great potential as an industrial yeast for lignocellulosic ethanol production.