Effect of ammonium acetate on alcohol fermentation in cassava-alcohol fermentation process

Abstract The cassava-alcohol fermentation process employing cassava requires nitrogen source to maximize yields by a commercial strain of S. cerevisiae TG1348. In this study, a factorial experimental design was used to assess a suitable nitrogen source for growth and fermentative performance of S. cerevisiae in cassava-ethanol fermentation. The alcohol fermentation time was about 39 hours for urea and ammonium acetate, which was 48 hours for ammonium chloride and ammonium sulphate. The fermentation time was reduced by 19% when using urea and ammonium acetate as nitrogen source. Ammonium acetate leaded to the highest alcohol yield, which was 4% higher than for ammonium sulphate. In addition, byproduct formation differed obviously between the nitrogen sources. The glycerol yields were similar for urea, ammonium sulphate and ammonium chloride but were 24% lower for ammonium acetate. However, glycerol yield for ammonium carbonate was higher than for other nitrogen sources. Clearly, in batch cultures the ammonium acetate not only increased ethanol generation, but also decreased glycerol generation. In order to understand why ammonium acetate promotes alcohol fermentation, acetic acid was added to different nitrogen sources. The weight loss effect of ammonium sulphate adding acetic acid and ammonium acetate as nitrogen source was the same. The fermentation time was shortened by adding acetic acid. And pH was increased by addition of acetic acid when ammonium sulfate and urea were used as nitrogen sources. The results showed that the acetate root plays an important role in ammonium acetate. The results of this study could facilitate the development of new strategies to control fermentation performance.