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ABSTRACT
The challenges related to the availability and dependability of energy sources, as well as the environmental impacts of their utilization on ecosystems, are pressing issues not only in Nigeria but globally. There has been notable progress in recent years towards the development and adoption of cleaner energy alternatives suitable for a wide range of consumer, industrial, and commercial applications. Biobutanol has been identified as one of the most promising biofuels poised to improve the existing conventional engine fuels due to its numerous advantageous properties and characteristics. The essence of this study is to compare the effects of acid and alkaline pretreatment on the optimum yield of fermentable sugar using cassava bagasse which is a lignocellulosic biomass for the production of biobutanol using response surface methodology (RSM). This study investigated the effects of three independent variables, (acid concentration or alkaline concentration), time and temperature on fermentable sugar yield. Using central composite design, the maximum total sugar yield obtained from the acid pretreatment was 798.524 mg/l. The optimized levels of the factors obtained are at a temperature of 117.347℃, time of 31 minutes and 2 % (w/w) acid concentration, while that of the alkaline pretreatment was a sugar yield of 1382.36 mg/l. at a temperature of 115.41℃, time of 32.84 minutes and an alkaline concentration of 2.41% (w/w) alkaline concentration. Overall, our results shows that the alkaline pretreatment was more favourable as it gave a higher yield of fermentable sugar compared to acid pretreatment.
