Bioethanol production from triticale by simultaneous saccharification and fermentation with magnesium or calcium ions addition

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the effect of magnesium or calcium ions content in triticale mashes on glucose and maltose content after liquefaction as well as on bioethanol yield after fermentation. Triticale variety Odyssey was used in this study. Liquefaction and saccharification in this study were performed without using any additional saccharifying enzymes, i.e. the triticale starch was hydrolyzed only by the enzymes present in triticale grain. Glucose and maltose content increased with the increase of magnesium and calcium ion content in mash. Glucose and maltose content increased by 30.16% and 9.58%, respectively, when 160mg/L of magnesium ions were added, compared to the control sample. Glucose and maltose content increased by 69.31% and 61.66%, respectively, when 160mg/L of calcium ions were added, compared to the control sample. According to the obtained results for glucose and maltose content increase during liquefaction, the supplementation of mashes with calcium ions had greater influence on the activity of triticale’s amylases than the supplementation of mashes with magnesium ions. The present investigation shows that magnesium and calcium ions addition to triticale mashes improved bioethanol production during SSF processing. When 160mg/L of magnesium ions were added bioethanol content increased by 31.22% compared to the control sample while when 160mg/L of calcium ions were added bioethanol content increased by 21.04%. High percentage of the theoretical bioethanol yield (92.19%) was achieved after fermentation when 160mg/L of magnesium ions were added to triticale mash. The obtained results show that the addition of magnesium and calcium ions in bioethanol production from triticale increase triticale’s amylase activity as well as yeast enzyme activity. All this shows that when triticale with high amylolytic enzymes activity is used in bioethanol production with the addition of magnesium ions there is no need to use commercial enzymes in starch hydrolysis, which makes the use of triticale as a raw material for bioethanol production more economical.