In general what are the reagents and products of fermentation?
In fermentation glucose (sugar) is degraded into pyruvic acid (each glucose molecule forms two pyruvic acid molecules). In this process two molecules of ATP are produced. According to the type of fermentation, pyruvic acid can produce ethanol and carbon dioxide (in alcoholic fermentation) or lactic acid (in lactic fermentation). There are other varieties of fermentation in which pyruvic acid can generate acetic acid (acetic fermentation), propionic acid, isopropanol (an alcohol too), etc. The type of fermentation depends on the species of the involved organisms.
