Fermentation of high concentrations of lactose to ethanol by engineered floccul...

• Author(s): Guimarães, Pedro M. R. ; Teixeira, J. A. ; Domingues, Lucília
• Date: 2008
• Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/1822/8247
• Origin: RepositóriUM - Universidade do Minho
• Subject(s): Cheese whey; Ethanol production; Flocculent yeast; Lactose fermentation; Recombinant S. cerevisiae
• Document Type: Article
• Language: English

Description

The development of microorganims that efficiently ferment lactose has a high biotechnological interest, particularly for cheese whey bioremediation processes with simultaneous bio-ethanol production. The lactose fermentation performance of a recombinant Saccharomyces cerevisiae flocculent strain was evaluated. The yeast consumed rapidly and completely lactose concentrations up to 150 g l-1 in either well- or micro-aerated batch fermentations. The maximum ethanol titre was 8% (v/v) and the highest ethanol productivity was 1.5–2 g l-1 h-1, in micro-aerated fermentations. The results presented here emphasise that this strain is an interesting alternative for the production of ethanol from lactose-based feedstocks.