The Effects of Agitation on Saccharomyces cerevisiae Yeast Carbon Dioxide Output

Abstract

Baker’s yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) is used in the commercial production of goods, and could potentially be a new source of biofuel, isobutanol. Agitation is crucial to the production of CO2 output from yeast cells in a solution. Therefore, as agitation levels increase, CO₂output will increase as well. The biochamber, which contains a yeast solution, was agitated by stirring at four different levels. Using a CO₂ probe, we were able to measure the output from the agitated yeast solution for seven minutes per trial. After all trials were completed, the CO₂ output increased steadily as agitation levels rose. Eventually, the CO₂ output plateaued at around 900 ppm. After analyzing the results, we found our hypothesis to be supported as agitation levels increased. Although our experiment is on a much smaller scale, the results are promising in a much larger experiment, which could lead to the production of biofuels from yeast fermentation.