Production of Single Cell Protein from Sugarcane Bagasse by Saccharomyces cerevisiae in Tray Bioreactor

In this study, solid state fermentation (SSF) was carried out to produce single cell protein (SCP) from sugarcane bagasse using Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The SSF experiments were performed in a tray bioreactor. The influence of several parameters including extraction buffer, initial moisture content of substrate, fermentation time, relative humidity in bioreactor, the bioreactor temperature and pretreatment of substrate on SCP production yield was considered. Among the extraction buffers used in this work, carbonate-bicarbonate buffer was the most effective one for protein extraction. Results revealed that suitable fermentation conditions were initial substrate moisture content of 70%, fermentation time of 72 h, relative humidity of 85%, bioreactor temperature of 35 oC and pretreatment of substrate using 2% NaOH solution; at this optimum condition protein production yield of 13.41% was attained. The amino acid analysis of the produced protein showed that the product contained almost all of the essential amino acids as well as some non-essential ones.