Alternative Process for Production of Sweet Potato Distilled Beverage

Abstract

Shochu is the most widely consumed spirit in Japan. In its manufacture is used koji, a solid fungus culture traditional of the Asian countries, but that makes the production process slow. Shochu can be produced from a variety of starchy sources, including sweet potato. About 7% of the world's sweet potato production is wasted due to imperfections that make it unsuitable for consumption. However, this material can be used in ethanol production. Considering the high productivity of sweet potato in Brazil, an opportunity to add value to this raw material is perceived. An alternative process for the production of sweet potato distillate similar to shochu was proposed. Koji was replaced by a mixture of alpha-amylase and glucoamylase. Process time was reduced from 14 to only 1 day. Composition analyses were performed by HPLC and GC. The experimental yield of alcoholic fermentation using pectinase enzyme reached 67.31-73.65%, but methanol was above the limits of the legislation. Without the addition of pectinase, no methanol was formed. However, there was a decrease in yield (51.65-54.75%), due to the incomplete disintegration of sweet potatoes. The distillate produced and the commercial shochu presented the same absorption bands in FTIR analysis, identifying the similarity between them.

A circular economy model for ethanol and alcohol-based hand sanitizer from sweet potato waste in the context of COVID-19

“…The total sugar content of the sweet potato used was 26.93±0.86%, and the experimental cultivation yield was 93.91% (Schweinberger et al, 2019a;Weber et al, 2020b). Hence, for the economic evaluation, a sweet potato with 30% of total sugar was assumed as a reference, and yields of 95% were assumed for both fermentation and distillation processes.…”

Food waste biorefinery advocating circular economy: Bioethanol and distilled beverage from sweet potato

“…The theoretical ethanol content that should be formed (11.66%) was calculated using Equation (1), and then the experimental yield of the fermentation was calculated by Equation (2). The results are shown in Table 2 (Schweinberger et al, 2019a;Weber et al, 2020). The experimental alcoholic fermentation yield was 93.91% for ethanol and 73.65% for the distilled beverages.…”

“…Sweet potatoes with cream peel and cream pulp (BRS Cuia cultivar) were harvested in General Câmara, RS, Brazil, and the ones considered unsuitable for human consumption (harvest residue) were donated by local farmers to the distilled beverage production (Weber et al, 2020). For ethanol production, rotting sweet potatoes with cream peel and cream pulp (market residue) were collected in the local market (Schweinberger et al, 2019a).…”

“…In this context, the primary purpose of this study is to evaluate the technical and economic viability of a sweet potato waste biorefinery for the production of bioethanol and distilled beverage based on our group experimental results (Schweinberger et al, 2016(Schweinberger et al, , 2019Weber, 2017;Weber et al, 2020), contributing in the reduction of greenhouse emissions by producing renewable and green resources and also leading to the development of new models and opportunities across the agriculture and food sector within the circular economy concept.…”

Appropriate Post-Harvest Technologies for Biofortified Crops Pro Enhanced Utilization, Value Addition, and Micronutrient Retention

“…OFSP puree is an ingredient in many foods, including baby foods, casseroles, puddings, soups, pies, cakes, ice creams, breads, and other products [36,[67][68][69]. Sweet potato purees are also used in fruit/vegetable-based beverages and restructured products as well as commercial ones like jam, ketchup, flakes, and powders while various fermented food products have also been explored [36,[70][71][72][73][74].…”