CO2 production with yeast and H2O2
A chemistry experiment I did yesterday in CHM Lab has got me thinking about one of the major limitations of producing CO2 with yeast and a possible way to solve it. In our coke bottles filled with yeast, water, and sugar, the yeast is producing CO2 anaerobicaly (without oxygen) with a by-product of ethanol (alcohol) which ultimately kills the yeast. In aerobic respiration (with oxygen) no ethanol is produced and more CO2 is produced. You would theoretically never have to change the contents of your coke bottle, just add more sugar when it runs out.
In lab we were producing O2 by adding hydrogen peroxide (H202) to yeast which catalyzes the following reaction thru the enzyme catalase
2(H202)-------------->2(H20)+O2
Producing water and oxygen. If one were to add some hydrogen peroxide to their sugar and yeast solution, O2 would be produced for some time increasing CO2 production and preventing the production of ethanol.
Thoughts on this are welcome!
Here is some further info
http://www.purchon.com/biology/respire.htm
"The most efficient form of respiration is aerobic respiration: this requires oxygen. When oxygen is not available, some organisms can respire anaerobically i.e. without air or oxygen. Yeast can respire in both ways. Yeast gets more energy from aerobic respiration, but when it runs out of oxygen it does not die. It can continue to respire anaerobically, but it does not get so much energy from the sugar. Yeast produces ethanol (alcohol) when it respires anaerobically and ultimately the ethanol will kill the yeast."
http://www.sciencebuddies.org/mentoring/project_ideas/MicroBio_p009.shtml
"Yeast can extract more energy from sugar when oxygen is present in their environment. In the absence of oxygen, yeast switch to a process called fermentation. With fermentation, yeast can still get energy from sugar, but less energy is derived from each sugar molecule.
In addition to deriving less energy with fermentation, the end products of sugar metabolism are also different. When oxygen is present, the sugar molecules are broken down into carbon dioxide and water (plus the energy that the yeast uses to grow and reproduce). In the absence of oxygen, the fermentation process produces alcohol, carbon dioxide and water (and less energy)."
A chemistry experiment I did yesterday in CHM Lab has got me thinking about one of the major limitations of producing CO2 with yeast and a possible way to solve it. In our coke bottles filled with yeast, water, and sugar, the yeast is producing CO2 anaerobicaly (without oxygen) with a by-product of ethanol (alcohol) which ultimately kills the yeast. In aerobic respiration (with oxygen) no ethanol is produced and more CO2 is produced. You would theoretically never have to change the contents of your coke bottle, just add more sugar when it runs out.
In lab we were producing O2 by adding hydrogen peroxide (H202) to yeast which catalyzes the following reaction thru the enzyme catalase
2(H202)-------------->2(H20)+O2
Producing water and oxygen. If one were to add some hydrogen peroxide to their sugar and yeast solution, O2 would be produced for some time increasing CO2 production and preventing the production of ethanol.
Thoughts on this are welcome!
Here is some further info
http://www.purchon.com/biology/respire.htm
"The most efficient form of respiration is aerobic respiration: this requires oxygen. When oxygen is not available, some organisms can respire anaerobically i.e. without air or oxygen. Yeast can respire in both ways. Yeast gets more energy from aerobic respiration, but when it runs out of oxygen it does not die. It can continue to respire anaerobically, but it does not get so much energy from the sugar. Yeast produces ethanol (alcohol) when it respires anaerobically and ultimately the ethanol will kill the yeast."
http://www.sciencebuddies.org/mentoring/project_ideas/MicroBio_p009.shtml
"Yeast can extract more energy from sugar when oxygen is present in their environment. In the absence of oxygen, yeast switch to a process called fermentation. With fermentation, yeast can still get energy from sugar, but less energy is derived from each sugar molecule.
In addition to deriving less energy with fermentation, the end products of sugar metabolism are also different. When oxygen is present, the sugar molecules are broken down into carbon dioxide and water (plus the energy that the yeast uses to grow and reproduce). In the absence of oxygen, the fermentation process produces alcohol, carbon dioxide and water (and less energy)."
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Peroxide is a buck a small bottle. Cheap experiment.
