Ethanol production from Laminaria japonica: Effect of metal ion adsorption

In this study, the increased ethanol production was achieved by treating Laminaria japonica with a chelating agent (ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) and nitrilotriacetic acid (NTA) were tested). The alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) activity increased with increase in L. japonica concentration, and was approximately 188.75% at 20 g/L of L. japonica. Therefore, this study resulted in inhibited ADH activity due to metal ion adsorption. The highest activity degradation from EDTA or NTA was 41.83 and 50.32%, respectively. Ethanol fermentation was not possible with EDTA treatment due to the prevention of cell growth. Ethanol production was detected only with NTA treatment with a maximum ethanol yield of 1.58 g/L at 60 mM NTA.