Abstract

The conversion of corn starch into ethanol is a fundamental process in the production of biofuels and industrial alcohols, encompassing enzymatic saccharification followed by yeast-driven fermentation. This study presents an interactive, non-distillation simulation model developed using Streamlit (Python) to visualize the biochemical conversion of corn starch into ethanol under varying process conditions. The simulator integrates key parameters corn mass, starch content, enzyme source, yeast type, fermentation temperature, and process efficiency to compute ethanol yield, alcohol by volume (ABV), and CO₂ evolution through stoichiometric and first-order kinetic modeling. In a representative simulation using 500 g of cornmeal (60% starch) and 2.5 L of water, with commercial enzymes, baker’s yeast, and 85% fermentation efficiency, the model predicted a final ethanol yield of 165.2 mL, corresponding to an estimated ABV of 6.61% and an overall efficiency of 85.0%. The kinetic plots illustrated an exponential decline in fermentable sugars with a corresponding rise in ethanol and CO₂ production, stabilizing after approximately seven days. These findings demonstrate the simulator’s capability to replicate realistic fermentation trends and yield estimates consistent with small-scale industrial data. The model provides a safe, interactive educational platform for students and researchers to explore fermentation kinetics, process optimization, and biofuel production principles without engaging in hazardous laboratory distillation procedures.

Keywords

Corn starch fermentation, Ethanol production, Biofuel simulation, Streamlit application, Fermentation kinetics, Enzymatic hydrolysis, Yeast metabolism, Process modelling, Biochemical engineering, Educational simulator.

Cite this article

Reddy KT, Vannala S, Vardhan KV. Modeling and visualization of corn-based ethanol fermentation using stoichiometric and kinetic simulation. Energy Intelligence and Sustainability. 2025;1(1):37-45. DOI : 10.19101/EIS.2025.11002

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