Ethanol from Cellulose
Neha Rajes, Darshan B. Khamat, Priyanka D. Nagpure, Jayshri L. Vishwakarma, Sankalp S. Salunke
Department of Engineering, Science & Humanities (DESH)
Vishwakarma Institute of Technology, Pune, 411037, Maharashtra, India
ABSTRACT- Due to limited landfill capacity, paper makes up a significant portion of municipal solid waste and constitutes a substantial disposal challenge in countries that are industrialized as well as developing. An alternative approach for utilizing newspaper, composed mainly of cellulose, involves its conversion into bio-ethanol. This offers potential advantages over ethanol derived from corn, including the prospect of replacing fossil fuels, minimizing greenhouse gas emissions, and reducing costs. The objective of this initiative is to mitigate newspaper waste within municipal solid waste by efficiently employing it in bio-ethanol production. In order to accomplish this, pre-treatment procedures have been improved through experimental research, with the goal of achieving effective microbial hydrolysis and the transformation of cellulose into sugars by organisms capable of breaking down cellulose. The multi-step process involves pretreatment, hydrolysis, and fermentation processes. To improve the hydrolysis process, hemicellulose, lignin, and cellulose are separate. Pre-treatment conditions with a 1.5% H2SO4 concentration for 50 minutes at 100°C were found to be ideal. Cytophaga Huchnosonni bacteria were used in the hydrolysis step to help convert cellulose to sugars. Dinitrosalicilic acid was used for the analysis of the resultant sugars. Then, Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast is used in fermentation to reduce sugars in order to make bio-ethanol. HPLC techniques and specific gravity were used to evaluate the yield. The goal of this thorough procedure is to aid in the reduction of waste while generating a sustainable energy source.
Keywords — Paper waste, Bioethanol production, Greenhouse gases, Enzymatic hydrolysis, Fossil fuels, Fermentation
