Laboratory Production of Alcohol from Rice and Maize Chaffs

Abstract

Alcohol fermentation of two agricultural wastes (rice husk from rice (Oryza satira) and cobs of maize (zea mays) were converted to fermentable sugar by hydrolysis with two cellulase enzyme producing fungi – Aspergillus niger and Penicillium digitatum. The agricultural chaffs used were dilignified by combined alkaline and steam pretreatments to enhance sugar production by the organisms. The reducing sugar produced from the chaffs were fermented to alcohol using baker’s yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae). The alcohol content of the samples were determined by distillation method. The concentration of alcohol content in MSRH and MSCC ranges between 126.5mg/ml – 479.3mg/ml and 331.6mg/ml – 521.1mg/ml respectively by A. niger and Penicillium digitatum. The highest reducing sugar obtained from MSCC medium degraded by A. niger and P. digitatum were 1560 x 103mg/ml and 1,300 x 103mg/ml respectively. The results of this research work highlight the industrial potentials of these agricultural chaffs as substrates for alcohol production.

KEYWORDS: Chaffs, oryzae sativa, zea mays, fermentation, alcohol, Aspergillus, Penicillium.