Effect of Oxygen Plasma Treatment on Bacterial Cellulose-Alginate Composite Sponge as a Yeast Cell Carrier for Ethanol Fermentation

Abstract

A bacterial cellulose-alginate composite sponge (BCA) was developed for use as a cell carrier in ethanol fermentation. Its hydrophilicity was improved by oxygen plasma treatment. Due to the etching effect in plasma application, the external surface roughness of treated BCA was increased, resulting in a decrease of advancing water contact angle. However, oxygen plasma treatment might not be able to create sufficient hydrophilic functional groups on the internal pore surface of BCA, where the yeast cells would be immobilized during fermentation. As a result, under batch fermentation, no significant difference in ethanol production obtained from the immobilized cell systems using the treated and untreated BCAs.