PRODUCTION OF BIOETHANOL FROM WATER HYACINTH USING MONOCULTURE AND CO-CULTURE OF MICROORGANISMS

Water hyacinth is a lignocellulosic raw material for long-term suitable production of bioethanol. Though water hyacinth is considered to be a cause of ecological disorder, however, due to its inherent chemical composition consisting of higher cellulosic components, it may be proven to be a source for lignocellulosic ethanol and other value-added products. This study investigated bioethanol production from water hyacinth using fermentation using Aspergillus niger, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and Bacillus cereus. The effect of the pH on the bioethanol fermentation was studied, also changes in reducing sugar content and ethanol concentration were determined. Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FT-IR) was used to identify the functional groups of the bioactive component which measures the vibration of bonds in chemical functional groups for the samples obtained after distillation. The pH of the fermentation media for mono-culture and co-culture fermentation of water hyacinth with Aspergillus niger, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and Bacillus cereus reduced from 6.0 to 3.7. There was an increase in the reduced sugar concentration during the fermentation period with the highest value (27%) obtained after 10 days of co-culture fermentation of water hyacinth with A. niger and S. cerevisiae. Co-culture fermented water hyacinth with A. niger and S. cerevisiae yielded the distillate with the highest ethanol concentration (35.4%). The FT-IR analysis of the distillate showed the presence of alcohol, aldehydes, and ketones.