Production of Bioethanol from Potato Peel

Abstract

Green plants and factory byproducts containing carbohydrate can be a source of a product like bioethanol. The major problem of these raw materials is the content and type of carbohydrate. Inthis study, potato peels was chosen as a carbon source; however, a pretreatment process is needed to convert starch of potato to fermentable sugar through hydrolysis. Potato peels were washed, cut, dried at 103°C for 24h and ground to the particle size of 2 mm. After soaking in diluted acid for 24h, hydrolysis was carried out. The hydrolysis was carried out by using dilute acid hydrolysis process. And then separation of solid sludge from fermentable sugar in centrifuge was accomplished. Fermentation was then carried out by using saccharomyces cerevisiae. Then after simple distillation was carried out for bioethanol separation from water.In order to obtain maximum ethanol, optimal value of factors for fermentation was determined in laboratory. The optimum combination of yeast amount and time at three levels for each was determined. The yeast amount of 3gm, 5gm and 7gm and fermentation time of 4days, 6days, and 8days was used. The group of experiment which contained 5gm yeast and 6days time produced maximum ethanol. Analysis of effect of yeast amount and fermentation time on ethanol production was carried out. The analysis was done by using Microsoft excel. The optimum amount of alcohol obtained was 50ml.The economic feasibility of the project was analyzed. The result from the feasibility study indicated that the proposed work was feasible with rate of return (RR) 22.85% and the payback period of the project is estimated to be 2.89years.