Optimization of Ethanol Production from Banana via Fermentation of Pre-treated Hydrolysate using Response Surface Methodology (RSM)

Nowadays, ethanol has been gaining attention as a renewable and domestically manufactured alternative to fossil fuels for transportation since fossil fuels contribute to greenhouse gas emission and environmental pollution. Recently, the disposal problem of food waste has prompted researchers to embark on bioethanol production using biomass waste as raw material. The present study optimized ethanol production from banana pulps, peels and rotten banana focusing on three parameters, temperature, fermentation period and yeast concentration by using Response Surface Methodology (RSM). For this study, dilute acid pre-treatment was conducted using sulphuric acid followed by the propagation of yeast to produce ethanol. For the fermentation process, Central Composite Design (CCD) from Design Expert® Software was used to optimize the selected parameters which are yeast concentration (0.1-0.6 w/v), temperature (30-40°C) and fermentation period (12-48 hours).