Production of ethanol from Jerusalem artichoke by mycelial pellets

Mycelial pellets formed by Aspergillus niger A-15 were used to immobilize the ethanol producing yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae C-15. The operation parameters, such as agitation speed, temperature and mixed proportion of strains were studied. The optimal adsorption 66.9% was obtained when speed was 80r/min, temperature was 40 °C and mixed proportion(mycelial pellets: yeasts) was 1:10. With Jerusalem artichoke flour as substrate, 12.8% (V/V) of ethanol was obtained after 48 h by simultaneous saccharification and fermentation using mycelial pellets. And mycelial pellets could tolerate 19% (volume fraction) ethanol. The above results proved that this new technology was feasible, and it had the advantages of higher ethanol yield, long service life, repeated use, easy operation and lower cost in producing ethanol.