Abstract
Bioethanol is one of the most widely used biofuels as automotive fuel on a global scale. Here, we describe research progress in bioethanol production using seawater. To select bacterium that can grow efficiently in a medium using seawater, sulfate tolerance capacity was estimated for ethanol-producing strains such as Issatchenkia orientalis NBRC1279T, Candida krusei NBRC1664 and Saccharomyces cerevisiae BY4742. Among these strains, C. krusei NBRC1664 showed the fastest growth. When C. krusei NBRC1664 was cultured using 40 ％ seawater as the medium component, 8.34 g/L ethanol was produced from 20 g/L glucose after 48 h of incubation, consistent with the concentration by cultivation in YNBG medium. This result suggests that seawater is a potentially useful medium component for ethanol production as the use of seawater reduces production costs by reducing the amount of freshwater used in the production.
