Abstract—Enzyme loading and initial concentrations of fermentable sugars are the key parameters in the simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) process to produce bioethanol. To study the interactive influence of enzyme loading and initial concentration of sugars on the final ethanol yield and concentration, batch SSF experiments were carried out at three enzyme loadings (10, 15 and 20 FPU/g cellulose) and two levels of initial concentrations of fermentable sugars (glucose and mannose). Results indicated that the maximum ethanol yield and concentration were obtained at high level of sugar concentration with intermediate enzyme loading (15 FPU/g cellulose). Increasing the enzyme loading from intermediate level (15 FPU/g cellulose) to high level (20 FPU/g cellulose) diminished the ethanol yield due to the inhibitory effect of the glucose and insufficient amount of yeast. Experimental results of SSF process also reveal that an efficient mixing between the phases helps to improve the ethanol yield significantly.
Index Terms—Bioethanol, enzyme loading, ethanol yield, simultaneous saccharification and fermentation.
J. Shadbahr, F. Khan, and Y. Zhang are with the Department of Process Engineering at Memorial University of Newfoundland, St John’s NL A1B 3X5 Canada (e-mail: jshadbahr@mun.ca, fikhan@mun.ca, yanz@mun.ca).
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Cite: Jalil Shadbahr, Faisal Khan, and Yan Zhang, "Interactive Influence of Enzyme Loading and Initial Concentration of Fermentable Sugars on Simultaneous Saccharification and Fermentation of Cellulose to Ethanol," International Journal of Chemical Engineering and Applications vol. 7, no. 6, pp. 383-387, 2016.
