Effect of temperature on acid hydrolysis of Jerusalem artichoke as raw material for ethanol production

Jerusalem artichoke (JA) is a low-requirement crop, which does not interfere with food chain, and is a promising carbon source for industrial fermentation. Microbial conversion of such a renewable raw material to useful products, such as ethanol, is an important objective in industrial biotechnology. In this study, ethanol was efficiently produced from the hydrolyzates of JA obtained at different pH values (pH 2.5, pH 3.0 and pH 3.5), temperature (120, 130, 132 and 134°C) and hold time (30 and 60 min) by Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The efficient degradation of JA by HCl under certain experimental conditions was confirmed by thin-layer chromatography. Ethanol concentration of 7.52% (w/w), which corresponds to 93.89 % of the theoretical yield is achieved by ethanol fermentation of JA hydrolyzate obtained at pH 2.5. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. TR-31002]