Sugar fermentation: C2 (ethanolic) platform

Ethanol has the largest-volume production among the biotechnological products. Worldwide production of ethanol has increased almost three times during the last 15 years. Even though the technology for industrial ethanol production is quite mature, efforts have been made in order to enhance the production yield and productivity as well as decrease the production costs. The knowledge of commercial-scale cultivation and utilization of yeasts for ethanol production as well as the advances achieved in strain and process development can shed light on the way of higher alcohol development. In this chapter, the technologies for enhanced ethanol production, for example, process design challenges and engineering microorganisms, are discussed.