Abstract
The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of process variables during dilute acid pretreatment
and
enzymatic
saccharification
of
sorghum
stalk
for
cellulosic
ethanol
production.
The
sorghum stalk was pre-treated at different reaction temperature (160 – 220 ), dilute acid
concentration (1 – 3 %v/v), solid/liquid ratio (0.06 – 0.15 g/ml) and time (5 – 15 mins). This was
followed by fermentation to production and characterization of ethanol. Optimum conditions for
pretreatment were reaction temperature of 210 , acid concentration of 3 % v/v, solid/liquid
ratio of 0.1 g/ml and a reaction time of 10 mins. Maximum percentage reducing sugar at this
condition was 14 %. The result of ethanol characterization revealed that the ethanol production
meets the ASTM standard. Hence, sorghum stalk is a potential feedstock to produce bioethanol.