Production of Bioethanol from Molasses and Effluent Treatment of Spent Wash

ABSTRACT

The use of ethanol in fuel blending has long been in use, and this help in controlling gas emissions but cannot be compared to bio-ethanol in control of greenhouse gas emissions. Bio-ethanol is known to adsorb CO2 they emit; it also improves rural economy. A lot of materials especially starchy crops are used in the production of bio-ethanol. This research work focuses on the production of bio-ethanol from molasses; a waste from sugar cane industries. Bio-ethanol is regarded as one of the most promising fuels from renewable sources. This study also looks at protecting the environment as the effluent of the bio-ethanol production can be treated before discharging to the open field. Four steps are involved in its production; dilution, fermentation, decantation and distillation. The molasses (700ml) was diluted with 300ml of water, after which yeast was added for fermentation process. Other reagents were also added to enhance the fermentation process and production of quality ethanol. The fermented molasses was distilled and to get bio-ethanol, the residue which is the spent wash was treated to reduce its contamination level in order not to affect lives when discharged to the environment. The results from the analysis gave 93.7% ethanol, 78.42oC boiling point value, 0.8301ml/l density, produced no offensive odour, completely miscible with water. Statistical analysis of untreated and treated spent wash reveals that it is statistically significant with p=0.032. These with other results gotten in this study are within the Nigerian Industrial Standard (NIS) and therefore have proven that molasses (waste) is a good substrate for bio-ethanol production which can be used for so many purposes.