CHEMISTRY

INVESTIGATORY

PROJECT

CONTENT
INDEX
• AIM
• CERTIFICATE
• ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
• DECLARATION
• OBJECTIVE
• INTODUCTION
• MATERIALS REQUIRED
• PROCEDURE
• OBSERVATIONS
• BIBLIOGRAPHY
AIM
TO COMPARE THE RATE OF
FERMENTATION OF GIVEN SAMPLE OF
GRAM FLOUR, WHEAT FLOUR, RICE FLOUR
AND POTATO BY USING YEAST.
INTODUCTION
Fermentation typically is the
conversion of carbohydrates to alcohols
and carbon dioxide or organic acids
using yeasts, bacteria, or a combination
thereof, under anaerobic conditions. A
more defined definition of fermentation
is the chemical conversion of sugars
onto ethanol and the science of
fermentation is known as zymology.
Fermentation usually implies the action
of microorganisims and this process is
used for the production of alcoholic
beverages like wines, beers and cider. It
also employed in the preservation
techniques by creating lactic acid in sour
foods such as dry sausages, yoghurt,
sauerkraut and vinegar. This process is
mailnly used in the packed food
products.

HISTORY
Since fruit ferments naturally, fermentation precedes
human history. Since ancient times humans have been
controlling the process of fermentation. The earliest
dates pf wine making starts from eight thousand years
ago in Georgia, in the Caucasus area. Seven thousand
years old jars containing the remains of wine which have
been excavated in the Zagros mountains in Iran. There is
a strong evidence that people were fermenting
beverages in Babylon circa 5000BC, ancient Egypt circa
3150BC. French chemist Louis Pasteur was the first
known zymologist , during 1854 yeast fermentation. He
originally defined fermentation as ‘respiration without
air’.
CONTRIBUTIONS TO
BIOCHEMISTRY
While studying the fermentations of sugar to alcohol,
Louis concluded that the fermentation was catalyzed by a
vital force called ferments, which is produced within the
yeast cells. The ferments were thought to function only
within the living organisms. ‘alcoholic fermentations is an
act correlated with the life and organization of the yeast
cells, not with the death of the cells’, he wrote.
Nevertheless, it was known that yeast extracts the
ferment sugar even in the absence of living yeast cells.
While studying about this process in 1897, Eduard
Buchner of Humbolt university of Berlin, Germany, he
found that sugar was fermented even without living cells
of yeast in that mixture, they found that this process is
carried out by the presence of yeast secretion termed as
‘zymase’. In 1906, the study of ethanol fermentation lrd
to the discovery of NAD+. In 1907, he received Nobel
prize in Chemistry for his research and discovery of cell
free fermentation.
USES
• Enrichment of the diet through development of a
diversity in flavors, aromas and textures in food
substances.
• Preservation s of substantial amounts of food
through lactic acid, alcohols, acetic acid and alkaline
fermentations.
• Biological enrichment of food substrates with
protein, essential amino acids, essential fatty acids
and vitamins.
• Elimination of ant acids
• Decrease in cooking time and fuel consumptions.
SAFETY OF
FERMENTED FOODS
Fermented foods generally have a very good
safety record even in the developing world
where the foods are manufactured by people
without training in microbiology or chemistry in
unhygienic environments. They are consumed
by hundreds of million people everyday in both
developed and developing world. While
fermented foods are generally safe, it should be
noted that fermented foods by themselves do
not solve the problems of contaminated
drinking water, environments by human
activities. However, application of the
principles that led to the safety of fermented
foods could lead to an improvement in the
overall quality and the nutritional value of the
food supply.
RISKS OF CONSUMING
FERNENTED FOODS
BLOATING
Probiotics in fermented foods can kill harmful
gut bacteria and fungi, which can cause excess
gas and bloating.
HEADACHES AND MIGRAINES
Biogenic amines produced during
fermentation can cause the above problems.
HISTAMINE INTOLERANCE
Histamine in fermented foods can cause a
range of symptoms including,
• Itching
• Headaches or migraines
• Runny nose (rhinitis)
• Eye redness
• Fatigue and hives
 • THEORY
Wheat flour, gram flour, rice flour and potatoes contain
starch as the major constituent. Starch present in these
food materials is the first brought into the solution. In
the presence of enzyme diastase, starch undergo
fermentation to give maltose.
Starch gives blue-violet color with iodine whereas
product of fermentation of starch do not give any
characteristic color. When the fermentation gets
completed, the reacting mixture stops giving the blue-
violet color with iodine solution. By comparing the time
required for completion of fermentation of equal
amounts of different substances containing starch, the
rate of fermentations can be compared. The enzyme
diastase is obtained by germination of moist barely seeds
in dark at 15 degree Celsius. When the germination gets
completed the temperature gets increased to 60 degree
Celsius to stop further growth and the seeds are crushed
into the water and filtered. The filtrate contains the
enzyme diastase is called malt extract.
MATERIALS REQUIRED
• Conical flask
• Test tube
• Funnel
• Filter paper
• Water bath
• 1 % Iodine solution
• Yeast
• Wheat flour
• Gram flour
• Rice four
• Potato
• Aqueous NaCl solution
PROCEDURE
➢ Take 5 grams of wheat flour in 100
ml in a conical flask and add 30 ml of
distilled water.
➢ Boil the solution for about 5 minutes.
➢ Filter the solution after cooling, the
filtrate obtained is wheat flour extract.
➢ Add 5 ml of aq. NaCl solution to the
extract.
➢ Keep the flask in a water bath
maintaining 50- 60 degree Celsius. Add 2
ml of malt extract.
➢ After 2 minutes, take 2 drops of the
reaction mixture and add it to diluted
Iodine solution.
➢ Repeat the step 6 after every 2
minutes. When no bluish color is
 produced, the fermentation gets
complete.
➢ Record the total time taken for
completion of fermentation.
➢ Repeat the steps with gram flour
extract, rice flour extract and potato
extract then record the observations.
OBSERVATIONS
TIME REQUIRED FOR FERMENTATION
A. Wheat flour- 10 hours
B. Gram flour- 12.5 hours
C. Rice flour- 15 hours
D. Potato- 13 hours
CONCLUTION
Rice flour takes maximum time for
fermentation and wheat flour takes
minimum time for fermentation.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
• Chemistry textbook class 12
• Chemistry lab manual
• www.wikipedia.com
• www.google.com
• www.1000sciencefairprojrcts.com
• www.compoundchem.com