Investigation of waste Banana Pseudo Stem (Musaacuminata) as potential raw material for Bioethanol production by fermentation process

Three different pre-treatment was used on the banana pseudo stem which is alkaline, acid and water pre-treatment was labelled as BS-Na0H, BS-H2SO4, and BS-H20. All three compound of treated banana was further undergo hydrolysis process in order to degrade the polysaccharides present in the pre-treated lignocellulosic biomass of banana waste into monosaccharide subunits. Monosaccharide that was produced through hydrolysis had enhanced the fermentation process by Saccharomyces cerevisiae. 10% of sulphuric acid was prepared and mixed with the lignocellulosic biomass of banana waste that was produced from three different pre-treatment process before. The glucose assay was carried out using Benedict's test to confirm the presence of reducing and non-reducing sugars before undergo fermentation process. The colour changes from benedict's reaction was collected at Oh, 24h, 48h, and 72h and this reaction gives a rough estimate of the reducing sugar present within the sample. As a result, shows a high reducing sugar for banana pseudo stern treat with alkaline and followed by banana pseudo stem treat with acid and water. FT-IR test shows an alcohol functional group, which is —OH bond in a broad band range 3600-3000cm-1 and SEM test shows a morphology of the banana pseudo stem had changes on the surface of sample after treated with different treatments. The highest percentage yield of ethanol produced is 16%. This shows that the best method to produce bioethanol from banana waste is to employ alkaline pre-treatment followed by acid hydrolysis and carry out the fermentation process.