Thai Researchers Use Yeast to Lower Cassava Ethanol Production Costs

Thailand's research agency and energy policymakers have discovered a way to produce biofuel from cassava at a competitive cost.

Despite its abundance, the use of cassava in ethanol production was not viable due to high production costs. The Thailand Institute of Science and Technological Research (TISTR) found that the use of a species of Saccharomyces cerevisiae in the cassava fermentation process could result in ethanol with a far lower cost.

The yeast was found to be well-suited for ethanol production since it is highly resistant to high temperatures and can grow with the high content of sugar and alcohol during the fermentation process. Employing the yeast can lower the production cost of cassava-based ethanol by almost 4% per liter. The TISTR has also designed a new cassava-based ethanol production process to serve its future plans to push the research to become commercially viable.

As a follow up to the yeast species breakthrough, the Institute is also conducting research to boost productivity in the industry.