Bioethanol production from brewers spent grain, bread wastes and corn fiber

Abstract

The production of ethanol from bread wastes, brewer’s spent grain (BSG) and corn fiber using dried active baker’s yeast (Saccaromyces cerevisiae) was investigated. These items were considered industrial wastes and are readily dispose off as by-products thereby constituting environmental hazards and an economic waste. The milled brewer’s waste and corn fiber were pre-treated with dilute acid prehydrolysis followed by delignification using NaOH. The pre-treated BSG was further fermented using the bakers’ yeast. For the bread waste, it was fermented without pretreatment because it contains less lignocellulose. The reducing sugar concentration of the pretreated BSG was determined to access the extent of the pretreatment process. The result showed that the ethanol content of the acid- treated BSG and bread wastes were 1.90 and 0.5% respectively while the proof spirit were 4.3 and 1.5% respectively. Bioethanol yield of corn fiber and base-treated BSG were negligible. Key words: Delignification, bioethanol, wastes, lignocellolosics, biofuel.