Ethanol production from corn husk, coconut husk and plantain peel using <I>Saccharomyces cereviasae</I>

Abstract

Corn Husk (CH), Coconut Husk (CCH) and Plantain Peel (PP) used for this work are agricultural wastes sourced from local end users. These waste biomasses were subjected to simple physical treatment of particle size reduction and used for anaerobic fermentative
production of alcohol. The biomass and media were added in ratio 1:20 (w/v) in 250 ml flask, incubated at 30 oC for 24 h. Aliquots from the Fermented slurry were withdrawn from the flasks and tested for ethanol produced at interval of 3 h for the 24 h period. Ethanol
production performance occurred in the order PP > CH >CCH with 5.06, 4.69 and 4.63 g/L respectively. These values are less than 6.75 g/L recorded in pure glucose used as control. These results show the possibility of the utilization of agricultural waste for ethanol
production. Intensification of the pretreatment technique and combination of different pretreatments could enhance higher ethanol production from agricultural wastes and biomass.

Keywords: Ethanol, Pretreatment, Agricultural wastes, fermentation,