ABSTRACT
Ethanol production from alkali treated rice straw was investigated by simultaneous saccharification and cofermentation (SSCF) using commercial cellulase and 3 different yeast strains viz., Saccharomyces cerevisiae HAU-1, Pachysolen tannophilus and Candida sp. individually as well as in combination at varied fermentation temperature and incubation time. Dilute alkali (2%) pretreatment of straw resulted in efficient delignification as observed by low residual lignin (12.52%) with 90.6% cellulose and 28.15% hemicellulose recovery. All the 3 yeast strains were able to produce ethanol form alkali treated rice straw and overall ethanol concentration varied from 5.30 to 24.94 g/L based on different fermentation time and temperature. Comparative analysis of ethanol production from different yeast strains combinations revealed maximum ethanol concentration of 23.48 g/L after 96 h incubation at 35ºC with P. tannophilus individually and 24.94 g/L when used as co-culture with Saccharomyces cerevisiae.