The Effect of Monosaccharides and Disaccharides on CO2 Emissions of Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Abstract

Yeast is a fungus that is used for many different functions such as baking, making alcoholic drinks, in the creation of biofuels, and probiotics. Biofuels are a recently discussed topic because they are an alternative to nonrenewable fossil fuels. Therefore, we decided to conduct an experiment to see which sugar out of lactose, glucose, and sucrose creates the most fermentation in yeast (CO₂ output). We tested the three sugars glucose (a monosaccharide), lactose (a disaccharide), and sucrose (a disaccharide) by observing the average CO₂ output within three trials for each. Overall, glucose created the most CO₂ with an average of 408 ppm/min. Therefore, we concluded that glucose, a monosaccharide, was more effective in fermentation of yeast. Within another study, it was found that glucose as a monosaccharide was more effective in fermentation than polysaccharides such as corn sugar. This helped to support our hypothesis that yeast can break down monosaccharides faster than disaccharides.