Bioethanol Production and Proximate Compostion of Waste Potatoes

Bioethanol can be produced from biological matter through processing of food wastes or crops meant for bioethanol production. This study used potato wastes from food vendors in Sokoto, Nigeria as a cheap and renewable carbon source for fermentation of ethanol. Saccharomyces cerevisiae was used to optimize the growth parameters and hydrolysis of potato wastes of the ethanol fermentation aimed at achieving maximum production of bioethanol. Following the analysis, results indicated that, a combination of 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5% of H2SO4 at 121˚C for 20 min in an autoclave can yield complete hydrolysis of all starch contents of potato wastes. The average proximate composition of the potato wastes showed 13.94%,1.42%, 1.72%,1.38%,0.43% and 81.11% of Moisture, Ash, Fat, Crude protein, Fiber and Carbohydrate contents respectively. Positive confirmation of reducing sugars and bioethanol was achieved by using benedicts and Jones’ reagents respectively, Quantitative Test for reducing sugars indicated 124.9 mg/gm, 88.6 mg/gm, 61.45 mg/gm, 53.22 mg/gm, 47.23 mg/gm for 0.5%, 1.5%, 2.0%,2.5% and 3% concentrations respectively.