Continuous production of fructose syrup and ethanol from hydrolysed Jerusalem artichoke juice

Jerusalem artichoke juice can be used for the production of very enriched fructose syrup by selective conversion of glucose to ethanol in a continuous process using immobilized cells of Saccharomyces cerevisiae ATCC 36859. The product contained up to 99% of the total carbohydrates as fructose compared to 76% in the feed. Using Jerusalem artichoke juice supplemented with some glucose a product was obtained with 7.5% w/v ethanol which made ethanol recovery economically favourable. It was found that some fructose was consumed in these continuous processes; the glucose/fructose conversion rate ratio was regulated by the glucose concentration in the product stream.