With oil-tea camellia seed meal as raw material, ethanol was produced by fermentation. The process conditions were optimized by single factor experiment and response surface methodology. The results showed that the interaction between ratio of calcium ion to magnesium ion and inoculation amount of yeast had very significant effect on ethanol yield. The interaction between ratio of calcium ion to magnesium ion and dosage of ammonium chloride on ethanol yield was significant. The optimal fermentation conditions of oil-tea camellia seed meal to produce ethanol were obtained as follows: initial fermentation pH 5.0, ratio of calcium ion to magnesium ion 0.90∶1, dosage of ammonium chloride 0.75% and inoculation amount of yeast 0.40%. Under the optimal conditions, the ethanol yield was 94.3%. |