Study of Bioethanol Production from Fermented Yam Peel

Abstract

In 2010 worldwide ethanol fuel production reached 22.95 billion U.S. liquid gallons (86.9 billion liters), with the United States as the top producer, accounting for 57.5 percent of global production. Following the demand by government of developed countries, for the addition of blends to gasoline in other to meet the stringent environmental laws, the production of ethanol is now being given consideration because it is environmentally friendly. In this study, yam starch was used to produce ethanol. After undergoing purification by distillation, the ethanol produced during the fermentation process, was characterized to ascertain its authenticity. The characterization of ethanol was done by determining some selected physical properties of ethanol and the values obtained was compared with standard physical property data for ethanol. The properties include Density, Viscosity, and Boiling point. The results obtained were as follows: 0.828g/cm3, 0.00127Pa.s, 78.620. The results shows that Ethanol can thus be produced from starch containing food staples by fermentation.