Bioethanol Production from Waste Crops and Crop Residues

Abstract

Rice straws and Husks were converted to reducing sugars by hydrolysis using concentrated sulphuric acid followed by fermentation using bakers yeast. After fractional distillation and purification, 52 ml (87 %) of ethanol was obtained from 480cm 3 of biomass which was blended with gasoline using different ratios. Physical constants of the bio-ethanol (density and distillation) conformed to Kenya Bureau of Standards specifications. The conclusion is that the bioconversion offers a cheap and safe method of disposing the agricultural residues and conversion of lignocellulosic wastes into ethanol.