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Ethanol fermentation, also called alcoholic fermentation, is a biological process which converts sugars such as glucose, fructose, and sucrose into cellular energy, producing ethanol and carbon dioxide as by-products.
The more popular methods for production of ethanol and cellulosic ethanol use enzymes that must be isolated first to be added to the biomass and thus convert the starch or cellulose into simple sugars, followed then by yeast fermentation into ethanol. This process does not need the addition of such enzymes as these microorganisms make their own.
The high concentration of lactic acid (the final product of fermentation) drives the equilibrium backwards (Le Chatelier's principle), decreasing the rate at which fermentation can occur and slowing down growth. Ethanol, into which lactic acid can be easily converted, is volatile and will readily escape, allowing the reaction to proceed easily.
Many medications such as antibiotics are produced by the fermentation process. An example is the important drug cortisone, which can be prepared by the fermentation of a plant steroid known as diosgenin. Burton Union fermentation system, Coors Visitor Centre. The enzymes used in the reaction are provided by the mold Rhizopus nigricans. [11]
Industrial fermentation is the intentional use of fermentation in manufacturing processes. In addition to the mass production of fermented foods and drinks, industrial fermentation has widespread applications in chemical industry. Commodity chemicals, such as acetic acid, citric acid, and ethanol are made by fermentation. [1]
The process may be likened to how yeast ferments sugars to produce ethanol for wine, beer, or fuel, but the organisms that carry out the ABE fermentation are strictly anaerobic (obligate anaerobes). The ABE fermentation produces solvents in a ratio of 3 parts acetone, 6 parts butanol to 1 part ethanol.
First, glucose metabolism is faster through ethanol fermentation because it involves fewer enzymes and limits all reactions to the cytoplasm. Second, ethanol has bactericidal activity by causing damage to the cell membrane and protein denaturing , allowing yeast fungus to outcompete environmental bacteria for resources. [ 6 ]
The hydrolyzed sugar could then be processed to form ethanol through fermentation. The first commercialized ethanol production began in Germany in 1898, where acid was used to hydrolyze cellulose. In the United States, the Standard Alcohol Company opened the first cellulosic ethanol production plant in South Carolina in 1910.