CITRUS SINENSIS (L) PEELS POTENTIAL FOR BIOFUEL PRODUCTION

This research work focused on the production of biofuel from orange peels using Bacillus subtilis as a fermentor. The orange peels were collected from Ekeukwu market and Ihiagwa fruit center, Owerri Nigeria, sun dried and grinded manually to powder. The sample was further fermented for 8days using Bacillus subtilis, after which it was distilled for 6 hours in order to extract the biofuel.Analysis of the ethanol compostion of orange peels was carried out using gas chromatography.The parameters measured include pH, concentration of reducing sugar before and after fermentation as well as the characterization of biofuel produced. Results shows that 200g of orange peels produced 400ml of biofuel on the 8th day of fermentation and the percentage component of the biofuel produced are Ethanol (48.73%), Methane (26.89%), Methanol (17.22%), Carbon dioxide (7.15%), Phenol (0.005%) while the control did not produce any biofuel. From the study it was observed that ethanol has the highest percentage in the biofuel produced from orange peels while phenol was the least. The reducing sugar concentration of the orange peel before and after fermentation were 11.678 mg/l and 73.899 mg/l respectively. It was also observed from this research that the ideal pH to obtain a reasonable quantity of biofuel from orange peels ranges from 5.0 – 5.3. The production of ethanol from orange peels presents an alternative, cheap, environmental friendly and readily available option to use in place of fossil fuels.The result from this study showed that liquid fuel (bioethanol) can be produced from the fermentation and distillation of orange peelsI therefore recommend that further studies be carried out on finding the efficient processes and methods of increasing the yield of biofuel from agro-waste.