Introduction:

The current operating conditions of the torula yeast production process from distillery vinasse at the “Antonio Sanchez” Basic Business Unit (UEB), in Cienfuegos, were analyzed by means of mass and energy balances in some sections of the plant.

Objective:

Evaluate the torula yeast production process by obtaining mass and energy balances.

Materials and methods:

The flow of cooling water from the vinasses, the fermentation biomass product and the flow of yeast cream obtained from the first centrifuge were calculated using Excel. A hypothesis test was carried out in Statgraphics Centurion XVII to analyze the measurements made in the plant for a change in nutrient salts and the incidence of the change in nitrogen source on raw materials costs was evaluated.

Results and discussion:

It was obtained that the biomass at the fermenter outlet represents 1.46% of the must produced, with a concentration of 10.05g/L. The calculated values were compared with those reported by the Aspen Hysys simulator with a maximum relative error of less than 3%.

Conclusions:

The process benefited from the use of urea as a nitrogen source, since a reduction in raw material costs per ton of yeast produced was determined.

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