Bioethanol production from corn stover

In this new globalization, bioethanol had become one of the most popular alternative source of energy to reduce the consumption of fossil fuel based energy. Bioethanol is a biodegradable, low toxicity and colourless liquid biofuel that can be produced through fermentation process from biomass feedstock. The aim of this research is to produce bioethanol from agriculture waste, corn stover through simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) process with the aid of different pretreatment. Corn stover is the part of corn that include all parts of the maize plant except the roots and the kernels. Corn stover is a promising bioethanol producing raw material as it contain high level of lignocellulose which can convert into glucose molecules. The corn stover undergoes
pretreatment process (size reduction, acid and alkaline) to increase the total surface area and decrease the biomass crystallinity for better enzymatic hydrolysis. The best condition that produce highest amount of glucose in acid pretreatment is by using 2% sulphuric acid, 30 minutes of sterilization time and temperature of 121°C. While best condition that produce highest amount of glucose in alkaline pretreatment is by using 2% sodium hydroxide, 120 minutes of sterilization time and temperature of 121°C. In SSF process, enzyme cellulase from Aspergillus niger is used in enzymatic hydrolysis
while Saccharomyces cerevisae and Escherichia coli are used in fermentation process. After undergoes High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) test, Saccharomyces cerevisae show the highest concentration of bioethanol produced which is 33.45% in alkaline condition.