Archives

Biofuels are liquid or gaseous fuels produced from biomass resources and used in place of, or in addition to diesel, petrol or other fossil fuels for transport, stationary, portable and other applications. An efficient method for conversion of biomass into fuel is by ethanol production because ethanol is an economical as well as environmentally friendly fuel. Ethanol has the advantages of being renewable, cleaner burning and produces no greenhouse gases. Yeast cells are facultative anaerobes and under anaerobic conditions they can ferment glucose to ethanol. S. cerevisiae is ideal for ethanol production due to several properties comprising fast growth rates, efficient glucose repression, efficient ethanol production and tolerance for environmental stresses, such as high ethanol concentration and low oxygen levels. In this review, the potential use of yeast as sources of energy, bioactive compounds, high-value chemicals, tools for ethanol production and recent progress in applications are reported.
Keywords: Yeast, Biofuel, Ethanol Production, Ethanol Tolerance, Environment.