IIT Guwahati team of scientists has discovered an ultrasound-assisted fermentation process to manufacture a safe sugar replacement known as ‘Xylitol’ from the residue left after crushing sugarcane.
With growing awareness of the negative effects of white sugar (sucrose) on not only diabetes patients but also general health, there has been an increase in the usage of safe alternative sweeteners. Xylitol, a sugar alcohol made from natural products, has potential anti-diabetic and anti-obesogenic benefits, is a mild prebiotic, and protects teeth from caries, according to the researchers.
Prof. V.S. Moholkar, Department of Chemical Engineering, IIT Guwahati, led the study team, which comprised Dr. Belachew Zegale Tizazu and Dr. Kuldeep Roy, who co-authored the research articles. Furthermore, the study’s findings were published in the peer-reviewed journals Bioresource Technology and Ultrasonics Sonochemistry.
“The use of ultrasound during the fermentation process not only reduced the time of fermentation to 15 hours (against almost 48 hours in conventional processes), but also increased the yield of the product by almost 20%. The researchers used only 1.5 hours of ultrasonication during the fermentation, which means that not much ultrasound power was consumed in the process. Thus, xylitol production from sugarcane bagasse using ultrasonic fermentation is a potential opportunity for forward integration of sugarcane industries in India,” stated Prof. V.S. Moholkar of IIT Guwahati’s Department of Chemical Engineering in a release.
The fermentation of xylose to xylitol normally takes 48 hours, but the scientists sped up the process by subjecting the mixture to ultrasonic waves. According to the researchers, without ultrasound, only 0.53g xylitol was created per gramme of xylose, but when the procedure was subjected to ultrasound, the yield increased to 0.61g/gram of xylose.
“This number translates to 170 g of xylitol per kilogram of bagasse. The yield could be further increased to 0.66g/gram of xylose and the fermentation time reduced to 15 hours by immobilising the yeast in polyurethane foam,” the scientists said on Tuesday.
Although the team is ecstatic about their findings, they are now focusing on commercialising sonic fermentation.
“The present research has been carried out on a laboratory scale. Commercial implementation of sonic fermentation requires the design of high power sources of ultrasound for large-scale fermenters, which in turn requires large-scale transducers and RF amplifiers, which remains a major technical challenge,” stated Prof. V.S. Moholkar in a release.
