THE EFFECT OF THE INTENSITY OF AERATING THE MEDIUM ON THE METABOLIC ACTIVITY OF ALCOHOL YEAST

Abstract

The article presents the results of investigating how the intensity of aerating the medium effects on the cultivation process and the metabolic activity of alcoholic yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, strain U-563, in the modern technology of alcohol and baking yeast from molasses. The chemical and technological parameters of media at the aerobic and anaerobic stages of the process, the level of accumulation of the major and secondary products of yeast metabolism, and their enzymatic activity have been determined by methods commonly employed in science and in the practice of alcohol biotechnology. The objects of research were the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, molasses wort, the medium in the process of yeast cultivation, and fermented wash. It has been established that two factors are the most important in the accumulation of alcoholic yeast biomass: the intensity of aerating the medium, and the staged introduction of the substrate during biomass cultivation. The more aerated the medium, the more intensively secondary metabolites of yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae are formed (glycerol, aldehydes, higher alcohols, volatile acids, and esters) – both at the yeast generation stage and during anaerobic fermentation. When yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is grown in a gradient-continuous manner in a battery of series-connected apparatuses, with undiluted substrate (molasses) added by degrees, yeast biosynthesis is significantly enhanced compared to the traditional homogeneous-continuous method. The results obtained indicate the active metabolism of carbohydrates in the Krebs cycle, when the medium is intensively aerated. Besides, the results reveal the high reactivity of aldehydes and esters that results in their transformation into other compounds, and in a great decrease in their amount at the anaerobic stage of the process. However, a progressive increase is observed in glycerol, higher alcohols, and volatile acids, starting from the first yeast generator and up to the last fermentation apparatus, irrespective of the level of aerating the medium during yeast cultivation. These findings can be effectively used to manufacture food, technical, and fuel ethanol industrially from sugar-based raw materials in the course of co-production of alcohol and baking yeast.