Exploration and Characterization of Thermophilic Bacteria from the Kerinci-Jambi Geothermal Source for Alcohol Production

Alcohol produced by thermophilic bacteria is renewable and a safe fuel because it is mainly based on microbial fermentation. This research needs to be done to find out the potential alcohol production of thermophilic bacteria because have many advantages such as degrading a much wider range of carbohydrates, the possibility of direct alcohol recovery from the fermentation broth, tolerance to extreme conditions, and also can reduce the contamination. This research stage started with isolation using Nutrient Agar (NA) media, using the pour plate method, and incubated at a temperature of 50°C for 24 h. The isolate obtained was cultured on basal media for qualitative testing with the addition of potassium dichromate. Isolates that were indicated to be positive for alcohol-producing potential were measured for absorbance using a spectrophotometer at a wavelength of 579 nm. Seven isolates of potential alcohol producers were checked using GC-MS to determine the group of alcohol produced. From these determinations, alcohol was obtained from ethanol, 4-penten-2ol, and 2,3-butanediol.