Production and characterization of bioethanol from sugarcane bagasse as alternative energy sources

Energy crisis and environmental pollution that characterized overdependence on fossil fuel as source of energy motivate researchers and government all over the world to search for sustainable and environmentally friendly alternative energy sources. This study is aimed at production of biocthanol form sugarcane bagasse using 24 factorial experimental design method to investigate the influence temperature, time, catalyst concentration and mass of sugarcane bagasse on the yield of bioethanol. Results obtained indicate that the optimum bioethanol yield of 14.5% was obtained at optimum conditions of operating temperature of 35°C, time of 72hours, catalyst concentration of 2gw/w and mass of sugarcane of 30g. The statistical analysis of variance indicated that fermentation temperature, time, catalyst concentration and mass of feedstock had significant effect on the yield of bioethanol from sugarcane bagasse. However, temperature had the highest contribution of 79.45%, while the time, catalyst concentration and mass of feedstock had contribution effect of 12.63%, 3.23% and 0.32% respectively. The bioethanol produced was then characterized to the determine the basic properties such as flash point, specific gravity, cloud point, sulphur content, acid value, refractive index, pour point, density and kinematic viscosity. The results obtained on the basic properties tested conform to the set limit with little variation. It can therefore inferred from the results obtained that production of biocthanol from sugarcane bagasse is possible.