Assessment of biofuel potential of the red variety of cashew apple

Abstract

The present study aims to enhance agroforestry resources and reduce postharvest losses through the bioconversion of cashew apple juice from red morphotype into bioethanol by alcoholic fermentation for its use as biofuel. To do this, fermentative performance of the yeasts Saccharomyces carlsbergensis and Saccharomyces cerevisiae on cashew apple juice from red morphotype were investigated. Results from monitoring of fermentation kinetic parameters such as acidity, Brix degree, pH and density, indicated a great variability of these parameters during the fermentation process in the presence of urea (CON2H4). The distillation of the musts at the end of fermentation revealed that alcoholic degree (% v/v) of musts are comprised from (20.48 ± 0.02%) and (47.26 ± 0.03%). All the strains used as ferments have seen their performance improved by the adding of Urea to the musts. Therefore, this agroresource constitutes a potential source of raw material for the bioethanol production.