Production of bioethanol from agricultural wastes is a significant initiative to meet the increasing demand for alternative fuel. The cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin residues of agronomic wastes can be utilized to yield bioethanol. The present research examines the suitability of corn (Zea mays L.) cob for bioethanol production. Bioethanol production involved two steps- hydrolysis of the lignocellulosic content of corn cob into fermentable sugars, followed by ethanolic fermentation by Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Pichia stipitis. Corn cobs were initially pre-treated using heat, acid, alkali and acid-alkali combination, respectively. The pre-treated corn cobs were subjected to solid state fermentation employing selected fungi with cellulolytic traits. The reducing sugars obtained were estimated by dinitro salicylic acid method and subjected to ethanolic fermentation by yeasts. The amount of ethanol produced was estimated. The cellulolytic fungi were identified as Trichoderma reesei and Aspergillus niger. Fermentation of the available reducing sugars by yeast co-culture resulted in ethanol production ranging between 10.10%-14.12% (v/v). Thus pre-treatment of corn cob may prove to be an effective means of obtaining fermentable sugars and can be utilized industrially to produce bioethanol by using different yeasts.
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