Ultrasound-assisted bioethanol production from waste newspaper

The present work deals with intensification of bioethanol production from waste newspaper using Saccharomyces cerevisiae using ultrasonic irradiations. The effect of different process parameters such as application of ultrasonic irradiation at different growth phases, irradiation time, ultrasonic power and duty cycle on the bioethanol production has been investigated. The favorable conditions for the maximum yield were established as application of ultrasonic irradiation (duration of 10 min) to fermentation broth at 12 h of growth phase with 25 kHz frequency, 160 W power and 20% duty cycle. The bioethanol productivity was increased by 1.8 times from 7.8 to 14.1 g/L compared with the non-sonicated control fermentation. Decrease in glucose concentration from 0.63% to 0.2% w/v in ultrasound-assisted fermentation confirmed the improved substrate uptake of the microbial cell due to the application of ultrasound. ESEM analysis also confirmed the changes in the cell morphology leading to improved cell permeability. Results were fitted to an unstructured kinetic model comprising of the kinetic and physiological parameters. Overall, the work has demonstrated an intensified approach for the bioethanol production based on the use of ultrasound.