Extraction of Bio-ethanol from Waste Pineapple Peelings

The factor of high market price for oil, the need to secure the energy reservoir and green house emission from fossil fuel has opened a new source of energy research on bio-ethanol. Recently researchers have looked into the utilization of renewable feedstock for production of bio-ethanol. One of the researched renewable feedstock is pineapple peelings. On average, more than 11,000 hectares of land in Malaysia is currently planted with pineapples which generate 40 to 65 tons of waste per hectare ultimately contribute to the country’s waste disposal problem. There is also global oil crisis, as demand for petroleum increases each year while our supplies are rapidly being depleted. Bio-ethanol, a principal bio-fuel, is a natural alternative to gasoline. One solution to both dilemmas is to produce bio-ethanol from pineapple plant peelings. Bio-ethanol from pineapple (Ananas comosus) peel extract will be carried out by controlling fermentation without any treatment. Saccharomyces ellipsoides was used as inoculum in this fermentation process as it is naturally found at the pineapple skin. In this study, the capability of Response Surface Methodology (RSM) for optimization of ethanol production from pineapple peel extract using Saccharomyces ellipsoideus in batch fermentation process was investigated. Effect of three test variables in a defined range of yeast concentration 6-14% (v/v), temperature (25-40°C) and fermentation time (48-96 hrs) on the ethanol production were evaluated. Data obtained from experiment were analyzed with RSM