Abstract:
Our lives are linked to energy use. We use energy to do work. Energy lights our cities. So, it has
to be changed agricultural waste to sustainable energy and maintain our community from
dangerous pollution and control climate change. The objectives of this research is to investigate
Bio- ethanol production from blends of banana peels and macro algae waste using
Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast as fermentation agent. Fossil fuel depletion has become a great
concern as the world population is increasing at an alarming rate. Current concerns such as
global warming, depletion of fossil fuels and increasing price of petroleum-based fuels have
forced the search for alternative and cost effective energy sources with lesser greenhouse gas
emissions. The methodology of this research was the fruit peels were crushed in to 3-5 cm sizes
for easy drying and grinding. Sample drying was carried out in oven (60 oC for 72hr) to obtain
easily crushable material. After drying, each of the samples was milled separately. The maximum
particle sizes of the ground mixed sample were 2 mm. Laboratory experiments of 16 run were
conducted to produce bio-ethanol from those blends of banana peel and macro algae were
pretreatment, hydrolysis, fermentation and distillation process respectively to produce bioethanol. The result of research was obtained in these study 75% banana peels and 25%micro
algae had high potential application for bio-ethanol production. pH was adjusted at 4.5 for bio
ethanol production. The optimum results were obtained at 0.75%v/v acid concentration, 115oC
temperature and 15min retention time. Under these condition 56% of bio-ethanol were obtained.
Further researches have to be done to improve the production of high quality and quantity of
fruit peel with blends different ratio to produced ethanol. The budget used for the research was
25,120 ETB and the duration of the research for six months.
