Fuel Grade Bioetanol Production from Suweg Starch Through Distilation-Adsorption Process Using Natural Zeolite

Abstract

Abstract Suweg (Amorphophallus campanulatus B) is a sweet tuber which has starch content around 77%, it is suitable as raw material for fuel grade bioethanol production. Bioethanol is ethanol derived from biomass. Fuel grade bioethanol must have a minimum concentration 99.5%. This research will study the effect of zeolite adsorbent concentration on the ethanol purification. The manufacture of fuel grade bioethanol through hydrolysis, fermentation, and purification via distillation and adsorption. Hydrolysis and fermentation (SSF) were carried out on Suweg starch at concentration of 250 g/L using StargenTM 002 at a concentration of 1.5% (w/w) and a concentration of 5 g/L Saccharomyces cerevisiae for 78 hours, producing maximum crude ethanol at a concentration of 14.09% for 54 hours. Furthermore, this crude ethanol is purified using two-stage distillation for 105 minutes and adsorption using natural zeolite with various concentration of 30-90% (w/v) for 120 minutes. The best results of distillation purification produce ethanol concentration of 94.78% (v/v) for 90 minutes, while the adsorption process stage produces 99.62% bioethanol using 90% (w/v) zeolite for 90 minutes.