Production of sugars from banana stem fibre

The possibility of utilizing banana stem waste for production of sugar via enzymatic hydrolysis was studied. Production of sugar was performed in I L lab scale vessel comprised of three major steps; enzymatic hydrolysis of banana stem, purification of banana stem sugars and crystallization of banana stem sugar. The amount of sugar produced from different treatments and concentrations were studied. From the results, the highest sugar recovery was from dried-ground banana solid, (66.10%) and the lowest sugar recovery was from fresh-ground banana syrup, (1.302%). Besides, the results also confirmed that the hydrolysis on dried-ground banana solids was selected as the best method in producing the highest recovery of sugar. The iodine staining test shows the banana stem syrup contained amylopection starch. Based on HPLC identification test on sugar component, hydrolysis of banana stem produced cellobiose, glucose, lactic acid and others. Thus, after harvesting banana fruit, banana stein can be utilized completely as the alternative raw substrate in producing sugar and reduce environmental problem