ABSTRACT

Biobutanol is an alcohol produced by the anaerobic fermentation of sugar in Acetone-Butanol-Ethanol (ABE) process. This research was carried out to determine the optimum condition for dilute acid hydrolysis pre-treatment and also to investigate the optimum fermentation time for biobutanol production using the clostridium beijerinckii microbe

Compositional analysis of the cassava bagasse was carried out using thermogravimetric analysis to determine the cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin content. The results from the compositional analysis showed that the feedstock is suitable for biobutanol production due to its high cellulose and hemicellulose contents (27% and 61% respectively) and low lignin content (11%).

Response Surface Methodology (RSM) was conducted using box benkhen experimental design to optimize the effects of temperature (100-140 oC), concentration (0-4 w/w%) and time (10-30 minutes) on the amount of sugar produced from dilute acid hydrolysis. The optimum hydrolysis conditions were at a temperature of 121.59 oC, acid concentration of 3.43 %w/w, and time of 28.5 minutes.

Simultaneous saccharification and fermentation were carried out using alpha-amylase for the enzymes hydrolysis and clostridium beijerinckii microbe as the fermentation medium. The optimum time for fermentation with maximum alcohol content was recorded after 72 hours.