Comparative Study of Bioethanol Production and Reducing Sugar Yields from Cassava Peels Using Fungi

This study compared the yields of bioethanol from the fermentation of pretreated cassava peels using yeasts isolated from palm wine, and a pretreatment method with methanol + acid before solid-state fermen¬tation of cassava peels using Trichoderma reesei for 5 days optimally yielded 1.78 g/mL of reducing sugar. The hydrolysate was fermented for bioethanol production using Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Candida tropicalis. S. cerevisiae performed optimally at 30oC, pH 4.5, and produced ethanol with a concentration of about 40.72 g/L, while C. tropicalis produced 29.90 g/L of ethanol concentration at 35oC, and pH 5. Both yeast isolates took the same fermentation time of 96 h. In conclusion, cassava peels are agricultural waste that is a degradable material suitable to produce simple reducing sugars, which can be fermented by yeast to produce bioethanol. The yield of ethanol was higher for S. cerevisiae than C. tropicalis.