Simultaneous Saccharification and Fermentation of Overnight Soaked Sweet Potato for Ethyl Alcohol Fermentation

The aim of the study is to develop an efficient method of production of ethyl alcohol by fermentation of sweet potato powder. The method emphasized on enhancement of -amylase accessibility by overnight soaking of sweet potato powder and decreasing unwanted bacterial fermentation by utilizing simultaneous saccharification and fermentation. The crystalline structure of starch limits the accessibility of -amylase to starch during enzymatic hydrolysis and thus reduces hydrolysis rate. This might be the reason for longer hydrolysis time. Effect of overnight soaking in water on eight variety of sweet potato was investigated followed by Simultaneous Saccharification and Fermentation (SSF). The result reflected the advantage of overnight soaking on -amylase accessibility to starch, which favor higher hydrolysis rate. Implementing SSF, the fermentation process become efficient due to less free sugar at an instant and maximum efficiency of 96.7% was achieved in a 64.65% starch containing substrate.