Utilization of Saccharum arundinaceum for Alcohol Production

Fermentation conditions for generating alcohol from cellulose hydrolytes of Saccharum arundinaceum were studied. The single factors applied for the experimentation included reaction time, temperature, pH, nitrogen source, yeast extract, and amount of yeast for inoculation. It indicated that a reacting time ranging from 72 to 96 h, temperature at 35℃, pH at 4.8-5.2, ammonium sulfate addition of 0.8%-1.0%, and yeast inoculation for 10%-15% could bring about a high efficiency for the alcohol generation. Subsequently, an orthogonal experiment optimized the fermentation conditions to be 35℃ for 84 h with an addition of 1.2% ammonium sulfate and 20% yeast that resulted in an alcohol yield of 32.62% at the concentration of 4.6% (V/V).