Innovated approach to produce 2G ethanol from sugarcane bagasse by immobilized cells of a xylose-fermenting Brazilian yeast

摘要

The production of second generation (2G) ethanol from sugarcane bagasse (SB) is a real economic and social perspective in Brazil. However, developments to establish a sustainable process for economic 2G ethanol production are required to decrease the production costs and increase the process efficiency. It is widely known that the use of immobilized cells has many advantages like easy biocatalyst recovery, application of repeated batch process and higher productivities. The aim of this study was to evaluate the ethanol production from sugarcane bagasse hemicellulosic hydrolysate using immobilized cells of the novel yeast Scheffersomyces shehatae UFMG 52.2 (isolated from Brazilian biodiversity). The pellets of immobilized cells were obtained by the method of entrapment in alginate gel and fermentation assay was conducted at 30 °C, 200 rpm for 96 h. After 72 h of process, Yp/s of 0.38 g/g and a Qp of 0.15 g/l/h were observed. The feasibility towards xylose conversion into ethanol of the yeast S. shehatae UFMG 52.2 in immobilized form was demonstrated. This investigation suggest the potential of the novel yeast for bioethanol production besides demonstrating the use of immobilized systems aiming scale-up operations.