Production of Bio-ethanol from Solid Waste Paper Using Biological Activation

Biomass energy is renewable energy source that comes from the material of plants and animals. Forms of biomass energy are bio-ethanol, bio methanol, and biodiesel. Bio-ethanol is one of the most important alternative energy sources that substitute the fossil fuels. The focus of this research is to produce bio-ethanol from waste office paper. Five laboratory experiments were conducted to produce bio-ethanol from wastepaper. The wastepaper was dried in oven and cut in to pieces. Then it passed through dilute acid hydrolysis, fermentation and distillation process respectively. High amount of ethanol was observed at 20 ml/g (liquid to solid ratio) and at the time of 2hr. Cost and economic analysis for ethanol production from wastepaper was performed. Results from the analysis indicated a paper to ethanol plant was feasible from the economic point of view with rate of return (RR) 38.61% and the payback period of 2.2 years.

Enzymatic hydrolysis by Trichoderma reesei of diluted acid-pretreated wastepaper for bioethanol production

Enzymatic hydrolysis of waste biomass for bioethanol production is considered a traditional, inexpensive, and energy-effective approach decades ago. In the present study, waste office paper was pretreated with diluted sulfuric acid (H2SO4) and hydrolysed with one of the most available and cost-effective enzymes, cellulase from Trichoderma reesei, under submerged static condition. Wastepaper size was reduced to 2cm2, blended with water and dry wet-blended, and pretreated with diluted H2SO4. Among different concentrations (0.5M, 1.0M, 1.5M, 2.0M) of H2SO4, the maximum glucose content was obtained at 2.0M H2SO4 at 90 min reaction time, and glucose yield was 0.11g glucose/g wastepaper. The cut paper, wet-blended, and acid-treated wastepaper was hydrolysed with cellulase enzyme for 2, 4, and 5 consecutive days with 5mg, 10mg, 15mg, and 20mg enzyme loadings. The maximum glucose content was obtained, 9.75g/l after 5 days of enzymatic hydrolysis with 20mg enzyme loading and a glucose yield of a 0.5g glucose/g wastepaper. The wastepaper hydrolysate was further fermented for 6, 8, and 10 hours continuously with Saccharomyces cerevisiae (yeast), and at 10 hours of fermentation, the maximum glucose consumption was 0.18g by yeast. Later, HPLC analysis of the fermented medium presented a strong peak of bioethanol content at 16.12min. Further, the distillation of bioethanol by rotary evaporator presented 0.79ml bioethanol/fermented solution, which indicated the conversion efficiency of 79%.