Bioethanol Production from Low-Value Feedstocks: Wild Cocoyam, Waste Cassava Peels, and Waste Sugar Cane Molasses

Abstract: Bioethanol, produced by the anaerobic fermentation of carbohydrates, can be used as a renewable fuel, as vital ingredient in the production of beer, wine, or high-valued distillate alcoholic drink. Different plants have been installed in different parts of the world as carbon source to produce bioethanol. Feedstocks is a fundamental requirement for successful and efficient operations of these bioethanol manufacturing plants. One major challenge in choosing suitable feedstock is food versus fuel debate, that is, reducing to the barest minimum food crops serving as main source of food for human consumption. Thus, the focus of this review is to explore some crops rich in carbohydrate but less commonly consumed as food such as wild cocoyam, cassava peels and waste product of sugar refinery, sugar cane molasses as alternative feedstocks. In this review, the harvested wild cocoyam corms and cassava peels were washed, dried, ground and then made into a gelatinized solution to increase the surface area. The starch present in the slurry mixtures was then saccharified by the action of different hydrolytic enzymes, like alpha-amylase, protease, amylitic-TS, and amyloglucosidase. It was reported that the enzymatic hydrolysis of ground cocoyam and cassava was effective in yielding favorable levels of fermentable glucose. The saccharified wort was then inoculated with viable yeast strains to begin the fermentation process. On the other hand, sugar cane molasses considered highly rich in sugar content was converted to bioethanol using a gram negative, facultative anaerobic, rod shaped strain’’ Zymomonas mobilis’’ as the microorganism under anaerobic fermentation condition. The fermentation process varied for several days from 48 h to 168 h depending on the feedstock. Percent alcohol concentration produced from wild cocoyam sample was 12.90 % after 168 h of anaerobic fermentation, whilst sugar cane molasses recorded 9.3 % bioethanol content after 48 h of fermentation process. The percent alcohol recovered from waste cassava peel was 8.5 % after 96 h of fermentation. Keywords: Bioethanol, Anaerobic fermentation, wild cocoyam, molasses, and cassava peels. Title: Bioethanol Production from Low-Value Feedstocks: Wild Cocoyam, Waste Cassava Peels, and Waste Sugar Cane Molasses Author: Isah S., Ahiakwo J, Odusina A., Equere-Obong A., George J., Ojo E.M., Udoh S., Anwuchughum C., Edward A., Enahoro E., Salami A International Journal of Novel Research in Physics Chemistry & Mathematics ISSN 2394-9651 Vol. 10, Issue 3, September 2023 - December 2023 Page No: 1-19 Novelty Journals Website: www.noveltyjournals.com Published Date: 18-September-2023 DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8355346 Paper Download Link (Source) https://www.noveltyjournals.com/upload/paper/Bioethanol%20Production-18092023-4.pdfInternational Journal of Novel Research in Physics Chemistry & Mathematics, ISSN 2394-9651, Novelty Journals, Website: www.noveltyjournals.co