A novel method for bioethanol production using immobilized yeast cells in calcium-alginate films and hybrid composite pervaporation membrane

Fermentation of sugar for production of ethanol was carried out using Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells immobilized in calcium alginate films. Thin films of calcium alginate casted on a microchannel surface were used instead of the typical spherical bead configuration. Yeast immobilized on alginate films produced a higher ethanol yield than free yeast cells under the same fermentation conditions. Also, a silicalite-1/poly dimethyl siloxane composite pervaporation membrane was synthesized for ethanol separation, and characterized with flux and separation factor. The composite membrane synthesized with a 3-1 ratio of silicalite-1 to poly dimethyl siloxane showed promising results, with a flux of 140.6 g/m2 h ± 19.3 and a separation factor of 37.52 ± 3.55. Thus, the performance of both the alginate film with immobilized cells and the customized hybrid membrane suggests they could have an interesting potential application in an integrated reaction-separation device for the production and purification of bioethanol.