Bioethanol Fermentation of Cheese Whey Powder (CWP) Solution using Unexplored Strain of Kluyveromyces Marxianus Cct 7585

Cheese whey is a concern in biological valorization of cheese manufacturing waste due to its high chemical oxygen demand (COD) and biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) values. Fermentation strategies for bioethanol production using lactose have been explored, and the approach can have beneficial effect on new product development such as bioethanol. Actually, these strategies are supported by the following techniques: construction of intergeneric yeast fusants, co-culture approaches, and mutation of native strains. Similarly, there is lack of data about bioethanol production from whey-borne lactose by the official strain K. marxianus CCT 7585. Would be possible to use those techniques mentioned above? For this reason, the effects of different carbon sources (mono and disaccharides), time course, and hydrolysis – the latter two in CWP solution – on bioethanol production were investigated using K. marxianus CCT 7585. The results showed that K. marxianus CCT 7585 was capable to decrease lactose content in CWP solution, which certainly will provide low COD and BOD rates. Satisfactory bioethanol yields were also observed (≈ 4% v/v). Moreover, CWP hydrolysis can be suggested as an inductor process to increase bioethanol yield (increases of around 6%). This official strain is considered to be a promising approach for using intergeneric yeast fusants, co-culture techniques, and genetic mutation to increase bioethanol yields.