LOW-MOLECULAR-WEIGHT ORGANIC COMPOSITION OF ETHANOL STILLAGE FROM SUGARCANE MOLASSES, CITRUS WASTE, AND SWEET WHEY

Filtered stillage from the distillation of ethanol made by yeast ferme ntation of sugarcane molasses, citrus waste, and sweet whey was analyz ed by gas chromatography/mass spectroscopy and by highperformance liqu id chromatography. Nearly all of the major peaks representing low mole cular weight organic components were identified. The major components in cane stillage were, in decreasing order of concentration, lactic ac id, glycerol, ethanol, and acetic acid. In citrus stillage they were l actic acid, glycerol, myo-inositol, acetic acid, chiro-inositol, and p roline., Finally, in whey stillage the major components were lactose, lactic acid, glycerol, acetic acid, glucose, arabinitol, and ribitol.