ABSTRACT

Bioethanol is a renewable and alcohol-based fuel derived from various biological sources. It is primarily produced through the fermentation of sugars found in crops such as corn, sugarcane, wheat and other agricultural products. The process involves the conversion of these sugars into ethanol by yeast or bacteria. Bioethanol is widely used as a biofuel additive in gasoline, aiming to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and dependence on fossil fuels. It is considered a cleaner alternative as it produces fewer emissions when burned compared to traditional gasoline. Moreover, it can be blended with gasoline in different ratios (such as E10 or E30) and flexible fuel vehicles are designed to use these blends interchangeably. There is a global interest in replacing fossil fuels with renewable sources of energy. Energy from fossil fuels has played a vital role in our lives, but the hazards it gives rise to cannot be ignored, thus there is a need for an alternative source of energy that is environmentally friendly and not harmful to human lives. This research is based on the production of bioethanol as an alternative source of fuel using rice husk, cassava peels and yam peels as raw materials. The bioethanol was produced by fermentation of rice husk, cassava and yam peels with the aid of Saccharomyces cerevisae at different time intervals of 48hours, 72hours and 96hours. The fermented liquid was distilled at 78⁰C and the yield of bioethanol was determined. The use of various concentrations of H₂SO₄ for hydrolysis of the agricultural wastes, yeast for fermentation and at different retention times of 500g of cassava peel, yam peel and rice husk yielded a peak mass of 6.46g, 5.58g and 3.19g respectively. This study shows that bioethanol can be produced from rice husk, cassava and yam peels with maximum yield from cassava peels as a result of the presence of higher starch content when a higher quantity of yeast was used.