Nylon-6 nanofibrous membranes (NFM) prepared by electrospinning have been used as solid state support for the immobilization of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae and then applied for the fermentation of grape juice. The membranes were characterized by scanning electron microscopy. The resulting metabolic activity was characterized by microcalorimetry. Sugar and ethanol changes during fermentation was monitored by HPLC. The results showed that the fermentation performance of immobilized yeasts on NFM is equal or even superior to the traditional fermentation process with yeasts freely dispersed in the medium. From calorimetry, free and immobilized yeasts showed the same enthalpy value in model solution, regardless to the amount of yeast loaded (52.2 ± 5.9 kJ mol⁻¹ of glucose). Instead, immobilization of yeasts resulted in shorter lag time. Moreover, the maximum growth rate of immobilized yeasts was the same as with free yeasts in model solutions. However, the growth rate of immobilized yeasts was even higher, when performed in grape juice. In addition, the immobilization of yeasts on NFM exhibits the evident possibility of multiple reuse. Three consecutive fermentations were performed without significant loss of the overall performance. These findings support the development of nanostructured solid support for biocatalytic processes like fermentation of alcoholic beverages.

通过静电纺丝制备的尼龙6纳米纤维膜（NFM）已被用作固定化酿酒酵母的固态载体，然后用于葡萄汁的发酵。膜通过扫描电子显微镜表征。通过微量量热法表征了所得的代谢活性。通过HPLC监测发酵过程中糖和乙醇的变化。结果表明，固定化酵母在NFM上的发酵性能与传统发酵工艺相当甚至优于传统发酵工艺，其中酵母可自由分散在培养基中。根据量热法，游离的和固定的酵母在模型溶液中显示出相同的焓值，而与酵母装载量无关（52.2±5.9 kJ mol ^-1葡萄糖）。相反，酵母的固定化导致更短的滞后时间。而且，固定酵母的最大生长速率与模型溶液中游离酵母的最大生长速率相同。然而，当在葡萄汁中进行时，固定化酵母的生长速率甚至更高。此外，将酵母菌固定在NFM上具有多次重复使用的明显可能性。进行了三个连续的发酵，而总体性能没有明显损失。这些发现支持了用于生物催化过程（如酒精饮料发酵）的纳米结构固体载体的开发。