Repeated-Batch Ethanol Production from Sweet Sorghum Juice by Saccharomyces cerevisiae Immobilized on Sweet Sorghum Stalks

Sweet sorghum stalks were used as a low cost carrier for immobilization of Saccharomyces cerevisiae NP 01 to produce ethanol from sweet sorghum juice. The effects on ethanol production of carrier size (6 × 6 × 6 to 20 × 20 × 20 mm3) and initial cell concentrations (5 × 107 to 2 × 108 cells mL−1) for cell immobilization were investigated. The ethanol production medium was the juice containing 230 g L−1 of total sugar without nutrient supplementation. The fermentations were carried out under static conditions in 500-mL air-locked Erlenmeyer flasks at 30 °C. The results showed that the optimum size of sorghum stalk pieces for repeated-batch ethanol production was 6 × 6 × 6 mm3, while the optimum initial cell concentration for the immobilization was 1.0 × 108 cells mL−1. The immobilized yeast under these conditions could be used for at least eight successive batches without any losses of ethanol production efficiencies. The average ethanol concentration, productivity and yield of the eight successive batches were 99.28 ± 3.53 g L−1, 1.36 ± 0.05 g L−1 h−1 and 0.47 ± 0.03 g g−1, respectively.