Saccharification and alcohol fermentation in starch solution of steam-exploded potato

• DOI: 10.1007/bf02788812
• Publication Date: 2007-12-22T05:48:54Z
• Authors: Fumihisa Kobayashi; Tatsuro Sawada; Yoshitoshi Nakamura; Makoto Ohnaga; Mutui Godliving; Tomoo Ushiyama
• Keywords: 2. Zero hunger; Hot Temperature; Ethanol; Starch; Saccharomyces cerevisiae; 01 natural sciences; Solutions; Aspergillus; Fermentation; Pressure; Water Pollutants, Chemical; Solanum tuberosum; 0105 earth and related environmental sciences

Steam explosion pretreatment of potato for the efficient production of alcohol was experimentally studied. The amount of water-soluble starch increased with the increase of steam pressure, but the amounts of methanol-soluble material and Klason lignin remained insignificant, regardless of steam pressure. The potatoes exploded at high pressure were hydrolyzed into a low molecular liquid starch, and then easily converted into ethanol by simultaneous saccharification and fermentation using mixed microorganisms: an amylolytic microorganism, Aspergillus awamori, and a fermentation microorganism, Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The maximal ethanol concentration was 4.2 g/L in a batch culture at 15 g/L starch concentration, and 3.6 g/L in a continuous culture fed the same starch concentration. In the fed-batch culture, the maximal ethanol concentration increased more than twofold, compared to the batch culture.