Ethanol fermentation of mahula (Madhuca latifolia L.) flowers using free and immobilized yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae

SummaryThere is a growing interest to find alternate bioresources for production of ethanol, apart from cane/sugar beet molasses and starchy crops like sweet sorghum, cassava and sweet potato. Mahula (Madhuca latifolia L.) is a forest tree abundantly available in the Indian subcontinent and its flowers are very rich in fermentable sugars (28.1–36.3 g 100 g−1). Batch fermentation of fresh and 12-month-stored flowers with free (whole cells) and immobilized cells of Saccharomyces cerevisiae (strain CTCRI) was carried out in 2-l Erlenmeyer flasks. The ethanol yields were 193 and 148 g kg−1 (using free cells) and 205 and 152 g kg−1 (using immobilized cells) from fresh and 12-month-stored mahula flowers, respectively.