METABOLIC DIVERSITY AND FERMENTATION YIELD PREDICTION IN SACCHAROMYCES CEREVISIAE USING BIOCHEMICAL INDICATORS

Abstract

Experimental data obtained from sugarcane press-mud pretreatment and fermentation process were used to investigate biochemical diversity and fermentation performance in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The variations in carbohydrate concentration, reducing sugars, ethanol production, fusel alcohols and acetic acid were analyzed for different pretreatment conditions. Descriptive statistics were used to describe biochemical relationships, and Pearson correlation analysis were used to identify potential fermentation performance indicators. Ethanol concentration of ethanol varied from 31.98 g/L to 63.59 g/L with the maximum being obtained at 130°C and pH of 4.8. The mean concentrations of carbohydrate and reducing sugar were 115.51 and 68.88 g/L, respectively. The pH of the pretreatment was strongly negatively correlated with reducing sugars (r = −0.879) and temperature was positively correlated with concentrations of fusel alcohol (r = 0.785). These results showed significant biochemical differences between the experimental conditions and may help to predict fermentation results. However, the confidence in the validity of reliable predictive models was limited by the few independent observations made. The study illustrates the need for integrated biochemical monitoring to increase the understanding of fermentation variability and pave the way for future optimization of sustainable bioethanol production based on data.