Yeast Ethanol Production with a Lower pH

Abstract

The purpose of this experiment was to find what environment yeast produces the most ethanol so more biofuels could be made in replacement of corn fuels. To create our experiment, we made three separate mixtures of deionized water, sucrose, sodium phosphate, and yeast, and either added baking soda, vinegar or nothing to the mixtures. We used an ethanol sensor to gather results of how much ethanol each separate mixture produced. The yeast grew the most in the basic solution and did not grow well in the acidic solution. Our hypothesis was supported and proven correct at the end of the experiment.