ELEPHANT GRASS (Pennisetum purpureum Schumach) IS A PROMISING FEEDSTOCK FOR ETHANOL PRODUCTION BY THE THERMOTOLERANT YEAST Kluyveromyces marxianus CCT 7735

ABSTRACT Elephant grass (Pennisetum purpureum Schumach) is regarded as a promising feedstock for second generation ethanol production, due to its high cellulose content, biomass production and rapid growth. The yeast Kluyveromyces marxianus CCT 7735 is capable of producing ethanol from agroindustrial residues, such as lignocellulosic biomass. Therefore, this study aimed to establish the optimal conditions for ethanol production by K. marxianus CCT 7735 from elephant grass. Five factors were evaluated: temperature (35-45 ºC), pH (4.5-5.8), agitation (50-150 rpm), cellulase concentration (7.5-22.5 FPU/mL) and elephant grass biomass (8-16% w/v). Enzymatic concentration (22.5 FPU/mL), biomass concentration (16% w/v) and temperature (38 ºC) were the significant optimized factors. K. marxianus CCT 7735 produced a high ethanol concentration (around 45.5 g/L) under these optimized conditions, which is considered feasible in terms of energy requirements in the distillation step.