Valorisation of agroindustrial residues acid hydrolyzates as carbon sources for ethanol production by native yeast strains with different fermentative capabilities

A profitable, second-generation (2G) bioethanol pro-duction process requires the use of the maximum amount of sugars present in the lignocellulosic biomass; among them are those obtained from hemicellulose hydrolysis. An alternative is the search and kinetic characterization of yeasts capable of fermenting xylose to ethanol. In this study, 161 yeasts were isolated from agroindustrial residues, and selected according to best growth in glucose and xylose. Five strains belonging to the genera Candida (C. intermedia and C. parapsilosis),and Wickerhamomyces (W. anomalus) were mo-lecularly identified. The kinetic parameters indicate that C. intermedia CBE002 had the best biomass yield in glucose and xylose (0.21 and 0.35 g/g of substrate), maximum specific growth rate (0.15 and 0.12 h-1) and metabolized both sugars simultaneously, desirable characteristics and rarely found together in other yeasts. Bioethanol production was made possible by C. intermedia (CBE002) from acid hydrolysates of corn stover and mango residues, with yields of 0.31 and 0.26 g/g of substrate, respectively. From the results obtained, this yeast is an attractive candidate to be used in bioethanol 2G production, and to take advantage of the large amount of agroindustrial residues available.