• Grant number: 11/51128-1
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: March 01, 2012
• End date: February 28, 2014
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Food Science and Technology
• Principal Investigator: Crispin Humberto Garcia Cruz
• Grantee: Crispin Humberto Garcia Cruz
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências, Letras e Ciências Exatas (IBILCE). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de São José do Rio Preto. São José do Rio Preto , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Petroleum and mineral coal are the fossil fuels more widely used, however, due to their environmental consequences have been passed over to new energy sources, especially the ones with renewable character. Among these alternative sources, the use of biomass has become quite interesting, especially in the direction of end-uses with higher technological content such as electricity generation, steam production and transportation fuels. The generation of fuel ethanol from lignocellulosic residues, such as fruit crops, can be an alternative source of renewable energy and possibilities of adding value to the array of fruit production. Brazil stands out as one of the largest producers of tropical fruits in the world, especially orange and banana. As a consequence, it is able to generate large amounts of organic residues that can be used as biomass for conversion to bioethanol. Within this context, the objective of this work is to study the effect of hydrolysis of banana and orange peels to ethanol production by co-cultures of Zymomonas mobilis and Pichia stipitis. The orange and banana peels will be subjected to acid and enzymatic hydrolysis, and later to detoxification, to decrease inhibitors compounds. The hydrolysates treated will undergo discontinuous fermentation at 30°C for 72 hours. It will be evaluated the effects of fermentation only by Z. mobilis and by co-cultures of P. Stipitis and Z Mobilis, pH, agitation and substrate amount. It is expected that the ethanol yield by using co-cultures is greater than individually, as both pentoses and hexoses are fermented by microorganisms. The best parameters will be selected for larger scale production of ethanol by continuous fermentation in a 5 L reactor. (AU)