Delignified cellulosic material supported biocatalyst as freeze-dried product in alcoholic fermentation.

Abstract

Freeze-dried delignified cellulosic (DC) material supported biocatalyst is proposed as a suitable form of biocatalyst to be preserved. The alcoholic fermentation of glucose using freeze-dried immobilized cells is reported. Freeze-dried immobilized baker's yeast cells on DC material do not need any protective medium during freeze-drying. The effect of initial glucose concentration and temperature on the alcoholic fermentation kinetic parameters is reported in the present study. It was found that the freeze-dried immobilized cells ferment more quickly than free freeze-dried cells and have a lower fermentation rate as compared with wet immobilized cells. However, repeated batch fermentations showed freeze-dried immobilized cells to ferment at about the same fermentation rate as wet immobilized cells. The results indicate that the freeze-dried immobilized cells must be further studied to establish a process for the preservation of immobilized cells.