Potassium hydroxide microwave-assisted pretreatment and simultaneous saccharification fermentation of banana trunk (Musa paradisiaca) for bioethanol production

Lignocellulosic agricultural wastes, such as banana trunks, are known to have the potential to be converted into bioethanol. This study aimed to investigate the potassium hydroxide microwave-assisted pretreatment (PhMa) of the banana trunk ( Musa paradisiaca ) and Simultaneous Saccharification Fermentation (SSF) to produce bioethanol. The study procedures were performed with varying temperatures (55–95 °C) and durations (10–50 min). PhMa was conducted with microwave irradiation at 360 Hz. The SSF process was carried out at 30–40 °C for 4–96 h. The lowest lignin content was approximately 6.84 % at 95 °C for 50 min. The highest bioethanol yield was at 5 % (v/v) during 72 h of fermentation at 30 and 40 °C. PhMa pretreatment method enabled the determination of kinetic parameters by fitting a model to various experimental data. A first-order reaction kinetic was used to calculate the activation energy. The findings indicated the activation energy 19.67 kJ mol −1 .