Sirilux Chaijamrus and Buncha Mouthung

pp. 163 - 170

Abstract

The use of mixed herbs in Thai rice wine starter (Loog-pang) were investigated in order to directly maintain the
efficiency of the microbial community (Saccharomycopsis fibuligera, Amylomyces sp., Gluconobacter sp. and Pediocccus
pentosaceus). The optimum formula was galanga, garlic, long pepper, licorice, and black pepper at the ratio of 0.5:8:1:4:1,
respectively. Previously, waste paddy has been used directly as a renewable resource for fuel ethanol production using solid
state fermentation (SSF) with Loog-pang. In this study, hydrolyzed malted rice starch was used as the sole nutrient source in
submerged fermentation (SmF) to enhance the process yield. The maximum ethanol productivity (4.08 g/kg waste paddy h^-1)
and the highest ethanol concentration (149±7.0 g/kg waste paddy) were obtained after 48 hrs of incubation. The results
indicated that starch saccharification provided a higher ethanol yield (48.38 g/100g sugar consumed) than SSF. In addition,
the efficiency of ethanol fermentation was 67% which is similar to that of the malted rice made from normal paddy (68%).
This result suggests that waste paddy could be used as an alternative raw material for ethanol production.