Efficient bioethanol production from water hyacinth Eichhornia crassipes by both preparation of the saccharified solution and selection of fermenting yeasts

Although water hyacinth is an adventive aquatic plant that threatens the Japanese ecosystem, its high growth rate may be a benefit in terms of its potential as a raw material for the production of bioethanol. In our study, water hyacinth was saccharified with 3?% (v/v) sulfuric acid and subjected to cellulase treatments to determine optimum bioethanol production conditions. The original saccharified solution yielded both glucose at 5.3?±?0.2?g/l and reducing sugars at 9.7?±?0.1?g/l. Concentration of the saccharified solution under vacuum at 70?°C yielded both glucose at 21.5?±?2.9?g/l and reducing sugars at 33.3?±?2.1?g/l. An aquatic yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae TY2 produced ethanol at 9.6?±?1.1?g/l from the concentrated saccharified solution. In comparison, Ogawa et al. (Afr J Microbiol Res 2:110?C113, 2008) reported that this yeast produced 0.90?g/l and that the production of bioethanol was about 11.2-fold lower than that obtained in our study. These results suggest that refinement of the saccharification process and application of the selected yeast could improve the efficiency of obtaining bioethanol from the water hyacinth.