Bioethanol production from sugar beet molasses and thick juice by free and immobilised Saccharomyces cerevisiae

The aim of this study was the investigation and comparison of the potential of sugar beet molasses and thick juice as raw materials for bioethanol production, as renewable and sustainable energy sources. Ethanol fermentation of a wide range of initial sugar concentrations (100–300 g/L) was performed using either free or immobilised Saccharomyces cerevisiae in calcium alginate beads in the absence of any added nutrients. In general, immobilised cells showed better fermentative performance, enhanced ethanol productivity, stability and cell viability compared with free cells, under the same fermentation conditions. The high concentration of non‐sugar components contained in molasses affected yeast fermentation performance and viability. Maximum ethanol concentration in fermented media of 84.6 and 109.5 g/L were obtained by immobilised cells for initial sugar concentrations of 200 and 250 g/L for molasses and thick juice, respectively. However, the highest ethanol yields of 31.7 L per 100 kg of molasses and 37.6 L per 100 kg of thick juice were obtained by immobilised cells at an initial sugar concentration of 175 g/L. In the high gravity fermentation process, thick juice resulted in a higher ethanol yield per mass of raw material compared with molasses. This study shows the advantage of immobilised yeast for the efficient production of high gravity bioethanol from thick juice, which was a more favourable raw material than molasses. © 2018 The Institute of Brewing & Distilling