To produce ethanol from seaweed, it must be available mannitol to the substrate.

One hundred fifty-five strains of yeast currently stored in Riken Bio Resource Center were investigated to whether they are possible to produce ethanol from mannitol.

As a result, 116 strains produced not less than 0.01% ethanol from 1% of mannitol.

Twenty-three strains produced ethanol of 0.05% or more. Five strains produced more than 0.1% ethanol. The strains with high yield and their ethanol yields were Candida silvanorum and 0.64 (mol-ethanol/mol-mannitol), Ambrosiozyma kamigamensis and 0.56 (mol-ethanol/mol-mannitol), Ambrosiozyma cicatricosa and 0.48 (mol-ethanol/mol-mannitol), Ogataea methanolica and 0.45 (mol-ethanol/mol-mannitol), and Lachancea waltii and 0.42 (mol-ethanol/mol-mannitol), respectively. Because the ethanol yield of the S. cerevisiae BB1 was 0.40 (mol-ethanol/mol-mannitol), the abilities to produce ethanol from mannitol of these strains are probably higher than strain BB1.