Abstract—The performance of Nata de coco (NDC) and Calcium alginate (CA) as an immobilization medium for Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells are compared in terms of production rate and conversion. S. cerevisiae cells are immobilized in NDC and CA beads using a cell suspension with an average approximate live cell density of 232.1 ± 1.5 cells/mL. The biocatalysts NDC and CA are charged into horizontal fermentation reactors. A centrifugal pump and manifold is used to control the flow rate to a desired flow rate of 9 mL/hr. Samples are collected every 12 hours and tested for ethanol by gas chromatography and glucose concentration by colorimetry. The average effluent ethanol concentration, productivity, conversion and yield during continuous fermentation in NDC are 5.093 % by volume, 52.329 mL/hr, 0.7779 and 0.7620, respectively. One-way ANOVA showed that the immobilization medium has no significant effect on the parameters under consideration i.e. the effluent ethanol concentration, productivity yield and conversion of NDC and CA immobilized cells are statistically equal. The study showed that the NDC biocatalyst performs equally well in the conditions optimized for CA biocatalyst. The structural strength and cost effectiveness of Nata de Coco makes it a very promising immobilization medium for continuous bioethanol production.
Index Terms—Biocellulose, calcium alginate, cell immobilization, continuous fermentation
C. M. Montealegre is an instructor in the Department of Chemical Engineering, College of Engineering, University of the Philippines, 1101 Diliman Quezon City (e-mail: charliemontealegre@gmail.com). E. R. Dionisio and L. V. Sumera are graduates of the University of the Philippines, Diliman Quezon City (e-mail: erdionisio@gmail.com, lawrence.sumera@gmail.com).
J. T. Adolacion is an instructor in the Department of Chemical Engineering, University of the Philippines Diliman Quezon City (e-mail: jayr.adolacion@coe.upd.edu.ph).
R. L. De Leon is with the Fuels, Energy and Thermal Systems Laboratory, Department of Chemical Engineering, College of Engineering, University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City, NCR 1100, Philippines (e-mail: rldeleon@up.edu.ph).
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Cite: Charlimagne M. Montealegre, Emerson R. Dionisio, Lawrence V. Sumera, Jay R T. Adolacion, and Rizalinda L. De Leon, "A Comparison between the Performance of S. Cerevisiae Cells Immobilized in Nata de Coco Biocellulose and Calcium Alginate during Continuous Bioethanol Production,"
International Journal of Chemical Engineering and Applications vol. 3, no. 4, pp. 237-242, 2012.
