Bioethanol production from milling industry by-product in a laboratory-scale bioreactor

Bioethanol produced by biomass fermentation is a renewable and environmentally friendly energy source and has significant potential as a replacement for liquid fossil fuels. Due to the world moving toward more sustainable energy sources, the production of bioethanol has been steadily increasing. This research aims to investigate the efficiency of bioethanol fermentation from a milling industry by-product in a laboratory-scale bioreactor. Prior to fermentation in a bioreactor, for preparation of a milling industry by-product, two different thermo-enzymatic procedures were investigated and compared, and based on the obtained results the more efficient procedure was selected and used for the experiment in a bioreactor. The bioethanol fermentation was carried out in a 14-litre bioreactor in batch mode under anaerobic conditions at 30°C. The obtained results showed that this by-product can be used for the production of bioethanol but that further optimization is necessary to improve the overall efficiency of the bioprocess