Evaluation of ethanol fermentation parameters for bioethanol production from sugar beet pulp and juice

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the efficient utilization of sugar beet pulp, as well as raw, concentrated raw and thick sugar beet juice, for bioethanol production. Different fermentation conditions were examined. The influence of raw material pre-treatment (pasteurization or sterilization), type of batch culture process (stationary or shaken) as well as the type of Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast preparation on the yields of the process were studied. Moreover, the fermentation process effectiveness was examined in connection with the quality of the obtained distillates. Sterilization, stationary batch culture and Safdistil C-70 yeast preparation were identified as the most profitable factors for sugar beet pulp fermentation, providing a high fermentation efficiency and ethanol yield (87.7% of theoretical ethanol yield). Concentrated raw beet juice resulted in a value of 94.2% of theoretical yield, and thick juice a 92.6% yield. The results suggest that bioethanol production from sugar beet pulp and sugar beet juice has promise as an alternative fuel. The raw spirits obtained from the sugar beet juice were characterized as having the lowest quantity of volatile by-products.