Lab-Scale Production of Bioethanol from Paddy Straw and Banana Peel : An Eco-Friendly Approach

Abstract

Agro-industrial waste serves as a viable substitute material for the manufacturing of biofuels. The objective of current research was to production of bioethanol using agricultural by-products and waste materials under laboratory scale. Pretreatment was conducted on rice straw and banana fruit peels, and the cellulose degrading bacterium was isolated and identified as Bacillus sp. The hydrolyzed sample underwent fermentation using adapted yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) in a controlled laboratory environment. The fermented sample analyzed by potassium dichromate method, and spectroscopic investigations to quantify bioethanol. The results of the study demonstrated that banana peel, rice straw and their combinations yielded bioethanol i.e. banana peel - 4.6 mg/mL, rice straw - 5 mg/mL, and a combination of banana peel and rice straw - 5.04 mg/mL. This yield is lower than industrial-scale production, indicating that the study is at a preliminary laboratory scale and requires further optimization. The outcome of study suggests that the combinations of banana peel and rice straw substrate yielded the maximum quantity of bioethanol compared to other substrates.