Continuous ethanol fermentation from non-sulfuric acid-washed molasses using traditional stirred tank reactors and the flocculating yeast strain KF-7.

Waste molasses is one of the most important feedstock for ethanol production in Brazil as well as in many Southeast Asian countries, including China. Sulfuric acid pretreatment is employed in most ethanol distilleries in China to control bacterial contamination, which results in difficulties in the treatment of wastewater containing high levels of sulfate ions. In this study, a high efficiency, non-sterilized, continuous ethanol fermentation process without sulfuric acid pretreatment was developed using the flocculating yeast strain KF-7 and the widely utilized, traditional, stirred tank reactors.