Plackett-Burman Design: A Statistical Method for the Optimization of Fermentation Process for the Yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae Isolated from the Flowers of Woodfordia fruticosa

Plackett-Burman design, a statistical method was successfully employed for the optimization of the fermentation process for the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The yeast used in the study was isolated from  the flowers of Woodfordia fruticosa in our previous work. The effect of simultaneously varying the jaggery concentration, inoculums volume and incubation temperature on alcohol yield was studied with the help of the response surface methodology. The optimum conditions found were jaggery (40% w/v), inoculums volume (8% v/v) and temperature (30°C). After process optimization, alcohol yield was increased from 69.57 g/l to 95.84 g/l. The results demonstrated that the strain S. cerevisiae could be used efficiently as inoculums for the fermentation process at optimal conditions.