Continuous ethanol production from pineapple cannery waste using immobilized yeast cells

The cells of Saccharomyces cerevisiae ATCC 24553, were immobilized in k-car rageenan and packed in a tapered glass column reactor for ethanol productio n from pineapple cannery waste at temperature 30 degrees C and pH 4.5. The maximum productivity was 42.8 g ethanol l(-1) h(-1) at a dilution rate of 1 .5 h(-1). The volumetric ethanol productivity of the immobilized cells was ca. 11.5 times higher than the free cells. The immobilized cell reactor was operated over a period of 87 days at a dilution rate of 1.0 h(-1), without any loss in the immobilized cell activity. The maximum specific ethanol pr oductivity and specific sugar uptake rate of the immobilized cells were 1.2 g ethanol g(-1) dry wt. cell h(-1) and 2.6 g sugar g(-1) dry wt, cell h(-1 ), respectively, at a dilution rate of 1.5 h(-1). (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.