title: Production of fructose from highly concentrated date extracts using Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
abstract: Large amounts of low-quality dates produced worldwide are wasted. Here, highly concentrated fructose syrups were produced via selective fermentation of date extracts with Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Syrups with 95.4-99.9 % (w/w) fructose yields were obtained from date extracts having an initial sugar range of 49-374 g/l without media supplementation; the corresponding ethanol yields were between 69 and 52 % (w/w). At 470 g initial sugars/l, fructose and ethanol yields were 84 and 47 % (w/w), respectively, and the product contained 62 % (w/w) fructose, which is higher than the widely available commercial 42 and 55 % (w/w) high fructose corn syrups. The commercial potential for conversion of waste dates to high-value products is thus demonstrated.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, College of Engineering, King Saud University, P.O. Box 800, Riyadh, 11421, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Meilana Dharma
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Putra
authors.forename: A E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Abasaeed
authors.forename: S M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Al-Zahrani
authors.forename: M H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Gaily
authors.forename: A K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Sulieman
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Zeinelabdeen
authors.forename: H K
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Atiyeh
mesh_terms: D028023:Arecaceae / Q000737:chemistry*; D000431:Ethanol / Q000378:metabolism; D005285:Fermentation; D005632:Fructose / Q000378:metabolism*; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism*; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D010936:Plant Extracts; D005632:Fructose; D000431:Ethanol