Biodiesel production has attracted much interest because of its biodegradable characteristics and reduced levels of combustion products. Lignocellulosic biomass has considerable potential to contribute to the future production of biofuels and mitigation of carbon dioxide emissions. Sugarcane bagasse hemicellulose represents a potentially inexpensive and renewable feedstock, source of fermentable sugars which can be used to conversion into biofuels e chemicals. Hemicellulosic hydrolysate (H-H) from in natura sugarcane bagasse was produced by acid hydrolysis and it was used as carbohydrates source (H-H medium) to fermentation by yeast. Results from fermentation in plain synthetic culture medium were compared the kinetic profiles obtained in HH fermentation. L. starkeyi showed similar kinetic profiles in both culture media, however, H-H medium allowed faster cell growth and higher concentration of biomass, representing an increase about 14%. This could be explained by the presence of microelements and aminoacids in the HH, promoting better growth. The yeast was not inhibited by hydroxymethilfurfural, furfural and acetic acid from the H-H, but these compounds were depleted during the fermentation, possibly by the yeast metabolism. However, in this preliminary study, cell intracellular lipid accumulation in the H-H culture medium was lower than for synthetic medium. L. starkeyi was able to consume the sugars from non-detoxified H-H, except the arabinose, showing the possibility of using the H-H from sugarcane bagasse for lipids production.
Acknowledgments: Funding for this research was provided by FAPESP, CAPES and CNPq (Brazil).