Användning av svenska makroalger som substrat för bioetanolproduktion

Abstract

This project investigates Saccharina latissima seaweeds, harvested in Sweden, as substrate for bioethanol fermentation. Saccharina latissima is also called sugar kelp and contains large amounts of the polysaccharide laminarin which was the target of interest in this project. The seaweed was milled before mixed with strong base followed by acid to extract the laminarin into a solution. After extraction, three methods for hydrolysing the laminarin into glucose were evaluated: sulphuric acid and autoclaving, commercial laminarinase enzyme, and enzymes from the naturally occuring bacterium Pseudoalteromonas sp. After hydrolysis fermentation was performed in small batches with a commercial strain of brewers' yeast. The results show that both sulphuric acid and enzymes from Pseudoalteromonas sp. did release glucose, which was successfully fermented into ethanol.