Abstract:
Purpose – This study aims to assess the effect of water variation on bioethanol production from cassava peels
(CP) using Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast as the ethanologenic agent.
Design/methodology/approach – The milled CP was divided into three treatment groups in a small-scale
flask experiment where each 20 g CP was subjected to two-stage hydrolysis. Different amount of water was
added to the fermentation process of CP. The fermented samples were collected every 24 h for various analyses.
Findings – The results of the fermentation revealed that the highest ethanol productivity and fermentation
efficiency was obtained at 17.38 ± 0.30% and 0.139 ± 0.003 gL 1 h 1
. The study affirmed that ethanol
production was increased for the addition of water up to 35% for the CP hydrolysate process.
Practical implications – The finding of this study demonstrates that S. cerevisiae is the key player in
industrial ethanol production among a variety of yeasts that produce ethanol through sugar fermentation. In
order to design truly sustainable processes, it should be expanded to include a thorough analysis and the
gradual scaling-up of this process to an industrial level.
Originality/value – This paper is an original research work dealing with bioethanol production from CP
using S. cerevisiae microbe.
Highlights
(1) Hydrolysis of cassava peels using 13.1 M H2SO4 at 100 o
C for 110 min gave high Glucose productivity
(2) Highest ethanol production was obtained at 72 h of fermentation using Saccharomyces cerevisiae
(3) Optimal bioethanol concentration and yield were obtained at a hydration level of 35% agitation
(4) Highest ethanol productivity and fermentation efficiency were 17.3%, 0.139 g.L1
.h1
