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ABSTRACT
The production of biofuels from agricultural by-products is very prospective because the raw materials do not compete with other food-source materials containing sugar and starch. Although glucose is more abundant than xylose in nature, fermentation of D-xylose is of interest in enhancing the yield of ethanol. Agro-waste were obtained from New Benin market and transported to the laboratory where standard microbiological procedures were used to enumerate, isolate and identify xylose utilizing yeast. Bial’s test was used to quantify the amount of xylose present in the medium which was used to identify the best xylose utilizer via UV-VS photometric method. The results from this study showed that amount of xylose utilizing yeast ranges 6.85Log10cfu/g to 7.58log10cfu/g in corn cob and onion respectively. The isolate corn cob-IA had the least xylose concentration of 28.5 ug/ml which indicates a higher efficiency of xylose utilization while the isolate Carrot-IA had the least xylose concentration of 45 ug/ml. Based on cultural and morphological characteristics, the yeast isolated from four agro-waste (corn cob, carrot, potato and onion) were identified as Candida tropicalis, Pichia sp and Debaryomyces sp. This study has shown the presence of xylose utilizing yeast in agro-waste. The organism can be used as a co-fermenter along side other organism that can ultilize sugar in the waste for the production of value added product..
