Exploratory Studies on the Technical Viability of Bioethanol Production from Fermented Sago (Metroxylon sagu) Starch

Abstract

This study was conducted to assess the viability of production of bioethanol from Metroxylon sagu Rottb. The experimental setup included different levels of yeast and molasses in the substrate. There were nine treatments examined in this experiment. The YIM1 (50g yeast, 150g molasses), Y2M1 (100g yeast, 150g molasses), Y3M1 (150g yeast, 150g molasses), Y1M2 (50g yeast, 200g of molasses), Y2M2 (100g yeast, 200g molasses), Y3M2 (150g yeast, 200g molasses), Y1M3 (50g yeast, 250g molasses), Y2M3 (100g yeast, 250g molasses), Y3M3 (150g yeast, 250g molasses). Experiment was monitored by their brix, temperature and time of fermentation. The results shows that higher the brix measured, has high yield of ethanol produced, among the treatments Y2M3 (100g yeast, 250g of molasses) gained higher yield of ethanol with 40.33% produced during first distillation. On the other hand, the lowest yield was Y3M1 (150g yeast, 150g molasses) with 17% gained of distillate from the mixture and has longer fermentation period. Using Analysis of Variance, RCBD, the level of significance was determined.