Effect of metabisulphite on alcohol production in palm-wine

This work reports on the effect of the metabisulphite ion on the concentration of ethanol in fermenting palm-wine. The work shows that the concentration of ethanol in untreated palm-wine reaches a maximum between three and four days and starts declining after this point. In the presence of the metabisulphite ion, the decline in ethanol content which takes place after three to four days no longer occurs. There was also an over 20% increase in the percentage of ethanol in palm-wine when the fermentation process was allowed to proceed in the presence of the metabisulphite ion. The work therefore recommends the use of sodium metabisulphite to increase the yield of alcohol (ethanol) during fermentation processes.