Studies on the Production of Bio-Ethanol from Brown Guinea Corn (Sorghum Bicolor L.), Pearl Millet (Penisetum Typhoides) and Sweet Potato (Ipomea Batatas) Using Modified Method

Abstract

This study determined mean volume distillate, percentage purity and specific gravity of bio-ethanol produced by the modification of the methods of Benue Brewery Limited (BBL), Makurdi and that of Mathewson using guinea corn, pearl millet and sweet potato as feedstocks. The modified reaction pathway yielded bio-ethanol of significantly (P < 0.01) higher mean volume distillate and percentage purity. Pearl millet feedstock yielded the highest mean volume distillate (98.00cm3) while guinea corn produced the highest mean volume distillate (92.17cm3) in the unmodified BBL method. Sweet potato feedstock yielded the lowest mean volume distillate of 79.00cm3 and 56.17cm3 in the modified reaction pathway and BBL method respectively. Pearl millet bio-ethanol also recorded the highest percentage purity (91.08%) by modified route and 88.64% by BBL method. Specific gravity measurements of the bio-ethanol showed that BBL method produced higher values with all the feedstocks. The highest value (0.8582) was recorded with guinea corn bio-ethanol produced while the least value (0.8268) was recorded with pearl millet bio-ethanol produced by the modified reaction pathway. This finding suggests that addition of hitempase (α-amylase) at onset and end gelatinization temperatures of starch improves the completeness of fermentation process with corresponding increase in volume distillate and percentage purity of bio-ethanol.

Keywords

• Bio-ethanol, Feedstocks, Fermentation, Hitempase, Reaction pathway

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