Comparative Study of Bioethanol Produced from Different Agro-Industrial Biomass Residues

Abstract

Bioethanol was produced from the three different agro-industrial biomass residues, i.e., sugarcane bagasse (SB), rice husk (RH) and corn cob (CC)) at 35°C, 120hr with 90g of each substrate. 2% H2SO4 was used for hydrolysis of the samples while 3g of yeast (saccharomyces cerevisiae) was used for fermentation. Simple distillation was used for the distillation of the fermented broth. The concentration of reducing sugar and ethanol, quantity of produced bioethanol as well as the physical properties (pH, density, viscosity and flash point) was investigated. SB has the highest concentration of reducing sugar and ethanol as well as the quantity of produced bioethanol. The pH of bioethanol generated from all the three substrates are within the bioethanol standard value while the density, viscosity and flash point were higher than bioethanol standards. It was concluded that both SB, RH and CC has the potential of bioethanol production in commercial quantity under well-chosen production conditions.