Ethanol Fermentation From Industrial Potato Waste in Biofilm Reactors

Bioethanol is a renewable energy source as an alternative to fossil fuels. Bioethanol is produced from starchy biomass in the U.S. such as corn.  However, a cheaper non-food value source is needed. On the other hand, to reduce the cost of ethanol and improve the effectiveness of the process, cell immobilization can be employed in ethanol production. Plastic composite supports (PCS) are solid supports used to stimulate biofilm formation in bioreactor (a.k.a. biofilm reactor) during microbial production of value-added products. Therefore, in this study, industrial potato waste is utilized for ethanol fermentation in the biofilm reactors. Plackett-Burman Statistical Design is used to determine the medium composition for enhanced ethanol production from the industrial potato waste as the feedstock. Later, Response Surface Methodology is employed to optimize the concentration of medium ingredients to yield higher performance for ethanol.