Bioethanol Production from Sugarcane Molasses an Industrial Waste Product

Abstract

Due to recent increase in price hike of petroleum products, different efforts are being done throughout the world in search of an alternative source of fuel. For this reason, various agricultural countries are trying to produce their own fuel from plant based materials. Different types of biofuels like bioethanol, biodiesel, biohydrogen, biogas etc. are being investigated throughout the world. The type of the biofuel being produced depends upon the availability of the substrate. This review mainly focused on sugar industry waste called molasses, which is rich in fermentable sugars. The easiest form of the fuel that can be produced from sugar rich substrate is bioethanol, thus the review mainly focused on different methods of bioethanol production from molasses and the challenges related to this process. There are several factors that can affect the production of bioethanol that includes the type of substrate, the fermenting microorganisms, optimization of physicochemical parameters like pH, temperature, and the nutrient requirements of fermenting microbes for the conversion of sugar rich substrate into bioethanol. Moreover, the current scenario of the utilization of bioethanol as a fuel in various countries throughout the world was also discussed in this review.