Production of bio-ethanol from sulfuric acid pre-treated rice husk using co-culture of <i>Saccharomyces cerevisae</i> and <i>Aspergillus niger</i>

Abstract

This study investigates the potential of bioethanol production from agro wastes. Agro waste from rice husk was subjected to a pretreatment process using acid hydrolysis. 20g of rice husk was soaked in 2 %, 6 % and 10 % H₂SO₄ acid concentration for 2 hours, followed by filtration using 1 Whatman filter paper. The pH of the filtrate sample was adjusted to pH of 4.5 using 10 % NaOH, and co-culture of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and A. Niger was introduced into the filtrate and stored for 5 days. Distillation was carried out at 78 °C. The ethanol yield, sugar content and ethanol content of all the samples obtained was analysed. The results obtained shows that 10 % H₂SO₄ pretreated sample resulted into maximum ethanol yield (32.13 g/ml) and sugar content (13.4 %). The colour change to green colour, indicates that ethanol is present in the samples.