Abstract

ENZYMATIC SACCHARIFICATION OF SUGARCANE BAGASSE FOR PRODUCTION OF BIOETHANOL

Harjot Pal Kaur*, Sukhvir Kaur and Monika

ABSTRACT

The depleting fossil fuel resources and the environmental problems with greenhouse gases have bring forward the awareness and importance of renewable sources of energy, such as lignocellulosic biomass. Lignocellulosic biomass can be utilized to produce ethanol, a promising alternative energy source for the limited oil sources. Sugarcane bagasse, cheap and abundant raw material, was selected in present study for bioethanol production and to determine the optimal pretreatment conditions for high efficiency ethanol production. Ethanol production involves pretreatment with dilute sulphuric acid (2%) and hydrogen peroxide (2%) at different pH ranges such as 8, 11.5 and 13 followed by enzymatic saccharification using enzyme cellulase from fungi Trichoderma reseei. After 7 days of fermentation, maximum average ethanol yield (17.74 g/l) was obtained from acid treated bagasse at pH 11.5 and minimum (11.15 g/l) from alkali treated bagasse at pH 8. However, this hydrolysate possessed a good biochemical potential, seemingly promising for bioethanol production. The results indicated that ethanol can be made from sugarcane bagasse. Further experiment may be designed using other cellulosic wastes like rice straw, wheat straw, or switch grass as a substrate for bioethanol production.

Keywords: Bagasse, Bioethanol, Cellulase, Lignocellulosic, Saccharification.