Bio fuels of Yeast fermentation

Introduction

Biofuels are an importance source of fuel due to the cause that they are infinite and can be found easily compared to fossil fuels. Fossil fuels are finite, hard to find and are not cost-effective as biofuels are. Another good thing about biofuels is that don’t contribute to global warming as much as fossil fuels do. Biofuels are mainly used for as a source of energy and sustainable transport. The ways that these biofuels are produces is that fact they convert living organism’s derivatives into biomass and use it as a fuel source (European Environment Agency, 2011). Then these biomasses can be then turned in chemical, biochemical or thermal conversions (European Environment Agency, 2011).

Alcoholic Fermentation occurs after glycolysis and pyruvate processing (Morton, 1980). During glycolysis, glucose breaks down to form two pyruvate molecules, converting two NAD+ to two NADH, and making two ATP. Then, the two electrons from NADH are transferred to the pyruvate and reduces the molecule. Two carbon dioxide molecules are taken off pyruvate to form two molecules of ethanol. After this, the NAD+ is left and is free to start the whole process over again. The reason why this is a bio fuel is the fact that yeasts derivate is converted into biomass.

In this experiment, three types of yeast were gathered. These yeast were brewing yeast, bread or regular yeast, and ale yeast. Brewing yeast is from a single-celled fungus named Saccharomyces cerevisiae. This type of yeast is used for baking, brewing and winemaking. S. cerevisiae is diploid with high rate of reproduction (Legras et al, 2007). Which means that the carbon dioxide levels should be relatively high when fermentation occurs and would serve as good biofuel.

The age o...

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...d be taken in for the next experiment, is to make the ages of the yeast all the same to get a more accurate reading of yeast fermentation. Regular yeast would also serve as a good biofuel as well, but ale would not because of its slow rate of fermentation.

Literature Cited

Legras, J., Merdinoglu, D., Cornuet, J., and Karst, F,. 2007. Bread, beer and wine: Saccharomyces cerevisiae diversity reflects human history. Molecular Ecology, 16(10). 2091-2102.

Powell C., Quain D., and Smart K,. 2003. The impact of brewing yeast cell age on fermentation performance, attenuation and flocculation, FEMS Yeast Research, Volume 3, Issue 2. 149-157.

Morton, J. S. 1980. Glycolysis and Alcoholic Fermentation. Acts & Facts. 9-12.

European Environment Agency. 2011. Opinion of the EEA scientific committee on greenhouse gas accounting in relation to bioenergy. Devel. Biol. 1-10.