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Ethanol production
potential of local yeast strains isolated from ripe banana
peels
A. A. Brooks
Department
of Microbiology, University of Calabar, P.M.B. 1115, Calabar,
Nigeria.
E-mail:
brooks.akan@yahoo.com.
Tel: 08037956762.
Accepted
16 May, 2008 |
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The ability of different yeast strains isolated from ripe
banana peels to produce ethanol was investigated. Of the 8
isolates screened for their fermentation ability, 5 showed
enhanced performance and were subsequently identified and
assessed for important ethanol fermentation attributes such
as ethanol producing ability, ethanol tolerance, flocculence,
thermo-and osmo-tolerance. Saccharomyces cerevisiae
R-8 exhibited the best attributes for ethanol production by
being highly flocculent, tolerant to 6 - 12% (v/V)
ethanol, fermentatively active at 37 - 42oC and
fermented 40% (v/V) glucose. S.
cerevisiae T-7 and S.cerevisiae R-2 showed rapid
fermentative activity on maltose by liberating 150 and 120
ml
of CO2 in 6 h, respectively. Debaryomyces
hansenii B-2 and Saccharomyces kluvveri K-6 each
fermented 40% ((v/V) glucose at 30oC
to yield 3.6 and 5.8% ethanol, respectively. The five yeast
strains are therefore potential candidates for ethanol
production from banana peels or other local starch sources.
Key
words:
Banana peels, ethanol, yeast, fermentation, starch. |
