Effect of Physical Parameters on Second Generation Bio-Ethanol Production from Oil Palm Frond by Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Abstract

The aim of this work was to develop a suitable bioprocess to maximize production of second generation bio-ethanol in submerged fermentation by using fermentable sugars derived from oil palm frond (OPF) through the solid state fermentation (SSF) system. The strain Saccharomyces cerevisiae was selected, and fermentation conditions were refined at the laboratory scale. Following optimization of inoculums size of S. cerevisiae and concentration of fermentable sugars (growth medium), yields of ethanol production as high as 23.10 g/ L were obtained, compared to 5.61 g/L before optimization. S. cerevisiae cells were able to assimilate the majority of the fermentable sugars from OPF. The results demonstrated that the culture conditions in fermentation process can significantly influence the ethanol yield in the flask system by using fermentable sugars obtained from the enzyme hydrolysis of OPF as fermentation medium.