PRODUCTION OF BIOETHANOL USING PAPER WASTES AS SUBSTRATES

Abstract

An investigation was carried out on the production of ethanol from cellulosic material (paper and paper wastes) by acid hydrolysis and fermentation using locally isolated yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae). Specific weight (1.3Kg) of each sample was mixed with dilute hydrochloric acid and heated for complete hydrolysis. The content was filtered to remove solid and to recover the sugar/acid solution. The sugar/acid solution (wort) was fermented and distilled to obtain 96% ethanol. The results revealed that the quantity of sugar after conversion of newspaper, used A4 paper and unused A4 paper were 42%, 35% and 45%, respectively. The volume of ethanol produced from each paper samples were 250ml/L, 150ml/L, and 300ml/L respectively. The results obtained show clearly that paper wastes can be channelled towards production of ethanol which is of immense industrial and commercial value