Biotechnology Letters Vol 8 No 1 53-56 (1986)

SOLID-STATE FERMENTATION OF GRAPE POMACE FOR ETHANOL PRODUCTION

I
Y. D. Hang , C. Y. Lee, and E. E. Woodams
Department of Food Science and Technology
Cornell University
Geneva, New York I~56

SUMMARY

Grape pomace was used as a substrate for the production of ethanol

under solid-state fermentation conditions. The yield of ethanol amounted

to greater than 80% of the theoretical, based on the fermentable sugar

consumed.

INTRODUCTION

Grape pomace is the residue left after Juice extraction and con-
stitutes about 16% of the original fruit (Rice, 1976). In 1985,
approximately 5 million metric tons of grapes were produced in the United
States. Grape pomace is rich in carbohydrate, but its protein content is
rather low (Rice, 1976). At present most pomace is dumped on land despite
the increasing disposal problem and the efforts for by-product utilization.

Solld-state fermentations refer to the cultivation of microorganisms

on solid materials in the absence of free liquid and have been used for the
preparation of a variety of fermented food products (Hang et al., 1982;
Hesseltine, 1972). One of the advantages of solid-state fermentations is
that the space required by the fermentation vessel is small relative to the
product yield because less water is used and the substrate is concentrated
(Hesseltine, 1972).
The objective of the present investigation was to determine the
feasibility of ethanol production from grape pomace under solid-state
fermentation conditions.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Substrate - Grape pomace used in this study was obtained from the Taylor
Wine Company, Inc., Hammondsport, New York. It contained 13.7% sugar as
glucose and had a moisture content of 84.4%. The pH was 3.6.

C _ ~ - Four commercial dry wine yeast cultures used in this study were
obtained from the Taylor Wine Company, Inc., Hammondsport, New York. Prior
to use, all cultures were hydrated in warm water for 10 minutes (4 g dry
yeast per 25 ml of water at 37~

5~
Solld-state fermentations - Portions of I kg of grape pomaoe and 25 ml of
yeast inoculum (4 g dry weight) were thoroughly mixed and transferred to
1.9-1iter Mason jars. The Jars were fitted with fermentation locks and
incubated at 25~ for 96 hours. The natural fermentation studies were
conducted in the same manner except that no yeast inoculum was added. At
the end of the fermentation, the fermented materials were extracted with
water and the extracts were analyzed for ethanol and residual sugar.

Analytical ~ethods - The ethanol content of grape pomaee was determined by

gas chromatography (Lee and Cooley, 1981) and the sugar was analyzed as
glucose by the phenol-sulfuric acid method of Dubois et al. (1956).

Enumeration o~ yeasts - The viable yeast cells were enumerated on YM agar

after the plates were incubated at 30~ for 48 hours.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Table I shows the production of ethanol from grape pomaoe with and
without commercial wine yeast inoculation. No marked difference in the
amount of ethanol produced was noted among the natural yeast flora and the
commercially available wine yeast cultures. In all eases, the sugar was
reduced to a level of less than I%, and greater than 53 g of ethanol were
produced per kg of grape pomaoe fermented. The yield of ethanol amounted
to 81-82% of the theoretical, based on the quantity of fermentable sugar
consumed.

Temperature had a profound influence on the alcoholic fermentation of

grape pomace. The rates of ethanol production and sugar consumption were
much greater at 25~ than at 18~ (Figure I). At 25~ the alcoholic
fermentation was complete in about 48 hours.

The results of the present study indicate that the naturally occurring
yeast flora fermented grape pomace as efficient as the commercially avail-
able wine yeast species under solld-state fermentation conditions. The
species which have made significant contributions to the natural fermenta-
tion of wines include S a c e h a r o m v o e s _ ~ , e ~ g p _ ~ , C _ ~
stellata, ~ ~ , ~ p ~ , and J ~ anomala
(Heard and Fleet, 1985). In this study, the population of natural yeasts
increased from about 105 to more than 107 CFU per g of grape pomaee at the
end of the fermentation.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The authors wish to thank Jack M. Lucia, the Taylor Wine Company,

Inc., Hammondsport, New York for the commercial wine yeast cultures and

grape pomaoe used throughout this study.

54