Ethanol production from traditional and emerging raw materials

Abstract

The ethanol industry of today utilizes raw materials rich in saccharides, such as sugar cane or sugar beets, and raw materials rich in starch, such as corn and wheat. The concern about supply of liquid transportation fuels, which has brought the crude oil price above 100 $/barrel during 2006, together with the concern about global warming, have turned the interest towards large-scale ethanol production from lignocellulosic materials, such as agriculture and forestry residues. Baker's yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is the preferred fermenting microorganism for ethanol production because of its superior and well-documented industrial performance. Extensive work has been made to genetically improve S. cerevisiae to enable fermentation of lignocellulosic raw materials. Ethanolic fermentation processes are conducted in batch, fed-batch, or continuous mode, with or without cell recycling, the relative merit of which will be discussed. © 2009 Springer Netherlands.