Comparative Study of Bioethanol Production from Waste Banana Fruits and Grape Fruits

Abstract

Petroleum consumption in the transportation sector causes severe damage to the environment. Bioethanol is used as a biofuel or fuel additive because of its properties that give clean burning, reducing air pollution and avoiding global warming. Still, Sri Lanka depends on petroleum fuel. As a result, Sri Lanka generates 270000 tons of fruit waste per year, including bananas, and it is time to investigate alternatives to fossil fuel. It would diminish environmental pollution and reduce the dependence on imported fossil fuels. In present study, the waste of bananas and grapes is used to produce bioethanol using S. cerevisiae (Baker’s yeast). Temperatures of 30 ºC and pH 5.0 were maintained in the fermentation medium. This study shows that waste grapes have a higher ethanol concentration, 6.08% greater than bananas at 5.11%. The grape and banana ethanol yields are 46.77 g/L and 39.46 g/L, and the specific gravity shows 0.871 and 0.882, respectively.