Preliminary investigation of the effect of the use of pineapple juice and the waste on ethanol production by Zymomonas mobilis

Abstract

The effect of the use of the juice of rotten - or discharged pineapple fruits and the wastes derived from the processing of pineapple juice on ethanol production by Z. mobilis was investigated. Z. mobilis ATCC 10988 produced 59.0 gl1 of ethanol in the undiluted pineapple juice although the supplementation of any nutritions and the controlling of pH were not carried out. Unhydrolyzed waste and the enzymatically hydrolyzed waste were also converted to ethanol at the relatively high yield coefficients. These results suggest that pineapple juice and the waste can be useful for ethanol production by Z. mobilis. Further, it was shown that the use of expensive organic-nitrogen complex such as yeast extract and the controlling of pH can be omitted from the fermentation process using pineapple juice and the waste.