Brosimum Alicastrum as a Novel Starch Source for Bioethanol Production

Abstract

Ramon (Brosimum alicastrum) is a forest tree native to the Mesoamerican region and the Caribbean. The flour obtained from Ramon seeds is 75% carbohydrate, of which 63% is starch, indicating its potential as a novel raw material for bioethanol production. The objective of this study was to produce ethanol from Ramon flour using a 90 • C thermic treatment for 30 min and a native yeast strain (Candida tropicalis) for the fermentation process. In addition, the structure of the flour and the effects of pretreatment were observed via scanning electron microscopy. The native yeast strain was superior to the commercial strain, fermenting 98.8% of the reducing sugar (RS) at 48 h and generating 31% more ethanol than commercial yeast. One ton of flour yielded 213 L of ethanol. These results suggest that Ramon flour is an excellent candidate for ethanol production. This is the first report on bioethanol production using the starch from Ramon seed flour and a native yeast strain isolated from this feedstock. This alternative material for bioethanol production minimizes the competition between food and energy production, a priority for Mexico that has led to significant changes in public policies to enhance the development of renewable energies.

Novel Yeast Strains for the Efficient Saccharification and Fermentation of Starchy By-Products to Bioethanol

“…Lignocellulosic biomasses are the most promising raw materials considering their great availability and limited cost [11,21,22]. Along with lignocellulose, starchy waste streams with high starch content could be exploited for bioethanol production [23][24][25][26][27].Indeed, starch is the most abundant form of energy storage in plants. The structure can vary regarding the botanical species (starch content can range from 50 to 90% in cereals, tubers and roots) and represents a high-yielding ethanol resource [2,9,28].…”

Short communication: Estimation of metabolizable and digestible energy of Ramon (Brosimum alicastrum Swartz) seed in broilers under tropical conditions

“…The Ramon tree can produce approximately 95.5 kg of seed per tree per year, yielding 38.2 ton per ha per year in a plantation of 400 trees per ha (Olguin-Maciel et al, 2017). This is found to be much higher when compared to maize national yielding (8.51 ton per ha) (SIAP, 2018).…”

Textura, color y aceptación sensorial de tortillas y pan producidos con harina de ramón (Brosimum alicastrum) para incrementar la fibra dietética total

“…Recientemente, la semilla del árbol de ramón ha cobrado importancia comercial por dos razones: primero, como una alternativa para la seguridad alimentaria, debido a sus propiedades nutricionales (Ramírez-Sánchez et al, 2017) y, segundo, para la obtención de bioetanol (Olguín-Maciel et al, 2017). El almidón de semilla de ramón se ha propuesto como ingrediente alimentario, así como para la fabricación de materiales biodegradables (Pérez-Pacheco et al, 2014) y para la producción de materiales termoplásticos (Ríos-Soberanis et al, 2016), además de poder utilizarse como excipiente en la formulación de tabletas en la industria farmacéutica (Moo-Huchin et al, 2015).…”