Bioethanol production from deproteinized cheese whey powder by local strain isolated from soured milk: influence of operating parameters

Abstract

ABSTRACT In this paper, a local isolated yeast strain was studied for bioethanol production using protein-free cheese whey powder (CWP) in batch alcoholic fermentation experiments. Ethanol tolerance tests were performed with different ethanol concentrations (from 0% to 20%). The maximum ethanol tolerance obtained for our strain was 5% (v/v). The influence of initial lactose concentration, temperature and pH on fermentation kinetic was studied. For initial lactose concentration ranging from 57.5 to 260 gL−1, the highest ethanol production 34.8 gL−1 was obtained at 109 gL−1 initial lactose concentration corresponding to 0.413 gg−1 ethanol yield (YP/S); (While it was noticed less ethanol production, namely 0.178 g g−1) at a higher initial whey sugar concentration of 260 gL−1. The effect of the initial pH on the fermentation was studied at three different values: 3, 4 and 5. The ethanol production reached a maximum of 22 g L−1 with a lactose consumption of 77.62% at pH 4. However, an observed decrease occurred in ethanol production and lactose consumption at pH 3, with values of 10.34 gL-1 and 24.46%, respectively. For the fermentation conducted at the three temperatures of 37°C, 40°C and 43°C, the maximum ethanol production and lactose consumption were 34.82 gL-1 and 80.75%, respectively, achieved at 37°C. The experimental data was analyzed using the Gompertz model to obtain the following kinetic parameters: the maximum ethanol concentration (Pm) was found to be 36.97 gL-1, the maximum ethanol production rate (rp,m) was 0.402 gL−1h−1 and the lag phase (tl) was 10.8 h. The comparison of the isolated Kluyveromyces marxianus TXID4911 strain with the reference strain Kluyveromyces marxianus DSM 5421, showed a relatively close ethanol yield (YP/S) 0.415 and 0.505 gg,−1 respectively.