OPTIMIZATION OF BIOETHANOL PRODUCTION FROM BANANA PEELS: AN ALTERNATIVE ENERGY SOURCE

The environmental issues associated with fossil fuels have resulted to increase in research interest globally on alternative and renewable energy sources such as bioethanol that are sustainable and environmentally friendly. In Nigeria, the use of fruit wastes such as banana peels for bioethanol production is yet to be harnessed effectively despite their rich carbohydrate content. This study is aimed at optimization of bioethanol produced from banana peels. The milled sample was subjected to pretreatment, hydrolysis, fermentation and distillation processes to produce bioethanol. The hydrolysis and fermentation process were optimized using classical optimization technique of one factor at a time to determine the effect of their parameters on the yield of glucose and bioethanol respectively. The results obtained indicated that maximum glucose yield of 42.14±0.92% was obtained at optimum factor conditions of 2% acid concentration,116oC temperature and 25minutes hydrolysis time while the maximum bioethanol yield of 44.68±0.82% was obtained at optimum factor conditions of 6% yeast concentration, 5.5 pH, 35oC temperature and 3 days fermentation time. The bioethanol produced was characterized for fuel properties such as boiling point, flash point, kinematic viscosity, refractive index, density using ASTM methods and the results obtained revealed that they conform to the standard. These findings suggest that banana peels is a good and sustainable feedstock for bioethanol production in Nigeria. Due to its relative abundance and availability for large scale production it should not be discarded in our environment as this is also a means of generating waste from wealth.