Availability of substratum enhances ethanol production in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Novel additives that act as substratum for attachment of the yeast cells, increased ethanol production in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The addition of 2 g rice husk, straw, wood shavings, plastic pieces or silica gel to 100 ml medium enhanced ethanol production by 30–40 (v/v). Six distillery strains showed an average enhancement of 34 from 4.1 (v/v) in control to 5.5 (v/v) on addition of rice husk. The cell wall bound glycogen increased by 40–50 mg g −1 dry yeast while intracellular glycogen decreased by 10–12 mg g−1 dry yeast in cells grown in presence of substratum