Potentials of Potato Starch for Biofuel Production. Fermentative Production of Alcohol by Saccharomyces Cerevisiae utilizing Potato Starch

Abstract or Introduction

At present, both price and availability of crude oil have motivated a worldwide search for cheap alternatives. Starch is an alternative source of energy because it is both renewable and available throughout the globe in large quantities. There are varieties of products which can be obtained from starch biomass via hydrolysis. Alcohol is one of the largest volumes of products that can be produced from biomass.

Recently there has been an active research aimed at attaining an increase in ethanol productivity by fermentation. A large amount of potatoes is wasted every year due to improper cold storage facilities in developing and underdeveloped countries. So, saccharification and conversion of these huge amounts of excess potatoes into alcohol, especially ethanol may generate an employment potential apart from saving a good amount of foreign exchange.

In my present research work, the production of alcohol from different varieties of potato, showed a better result after enzymatic hydrolysis of those potatoes followed by alcohol(ethanol) production utilizing Saccharomyces cerevisiae NCIM 3314. Maximum alcohol(ethanol) was obtained utilizing high grade Kufri Jyoti variety when compared to other varieties of potatoes.