Sucrose-supplemented distillery spent wash as a medium for production of ethanol at 45 °C by free and alginate-immobilized preparations of Kluyveromyces marxianus IMB3

Ethanol production by the thermotolerant, ethanol-producing yeast strain Kluyveromyces marxianus IMB3, was compared during growth on sucrose-supplemented laboratory-based media and distillery spent wash from the Old Bushmill's Distillery Co., Ltd., Co. Antrim, Northern Ireland. Fermentations were carried out using preparations of the free and alginate-immobilized microorganism as inocula in media supplemented with 2 and 10% (w/v) sucrose. Maximum ethanol concentrations accounted for 75–99% of the maximum theoretical yield and in all cases maximum concentrations obtained using the spent wash were similar if not slightly higher than those obtained on the sucrose-supplemented yeast growth media. In addition, the highest concentrations of ethanol were produced by the alginate-immobilized biocatalyst on both types of media. Analysis of exhausted media in the spent wash-based systems demonstrated significant decreases in the total organic carbon content following fermentation. These results confirm our earlier suggestion that ethanol production based on this microorganism in a recycle system may provide a more cost-effective means of disposing of whiskey distillery spent wash.