BAHIR DAR INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY/BiT/

FACULITY OF CHEMICAL AND FOOD ENGINEERING

DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEEGING
PROJECT ON PRODUCTION OF ETHANOL
FROM CORN STOVER
DONE BY
ABEBE ABERA
ABRHA BRHANE
MENGSTEAB FANTAHUN

ADVISOR ;DEGNET MELESE

OUT LINE
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION
STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
OBJECTIVES
LITERATURE REVIEW
MATERIAL AND METHODS
BENEFITS AND BENEFICIARIES
TENTATIVE OPERATIONAL CALANDER

ABSTRACT
Bioethanol is currently the most important biofuel for
automotive transportation. The current Ethiopian production of
bioethanol is not sufficient to achieve this transportation. They
are supplemented by local (internal) energy generation used to
supply heat and/or electrical power to minimize the energy
consumption from fossil sources. In this project we have to
know the optimal temperature and time to get the highest
efficiency of ethanol.

INTRODUCTION
BACKGROUND OF ETHANOL
The word alcohol derives from Arabic al-kuhul, which denotes
a fine powder of antimony produced by distilling antimony and
used as an eye makeup.
Ethanol is a clear liquid alcohol that is made by the
fermentation of different biological materials. This alcohol is
known to have many uses, but one in particular is becoming
more popular, and also the most widely used biofuel, is made in
a process similar to brewing beer.

Availability of corn in Ethiopia

Corn is a widely grown food and cash crop that can be

found within a broad range of environments such as

across Gojam and in some south Gonder places in Amhara
region and in Oromyia region around Wolega zone. In
Ethiopia, corn is currently produced by more farmers than
any other crop and its total cropping area is still expanding
.

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
The increased concern for the security of the oil supply and the negative
impact of fossil fuels on the environment, particularly green house gas
emissions, has increase pressure on the society to find renewable fuel
alternatives. Ethanol usually produces using cheap raw materials such as
starch, rise husk, and also sugarcane bagasse.
However this raw material base will not be sufficient to produce high amount
of ethanol needed in quantity. Not only this aim but also the current usage of
this corn stover is that much not maximum except that used for animal
feeding and cooking purpose when compared with the availability of ethanol.
This cost is somewhat inferior; due to this reason the main purpose of this
project is to produce high efficiency ethanol from corn stover by using
electrolyzed water and two step pretreatment method during pretreatment.

OBJECTIVES
GENERAL OBJECTIVE

The main objective of this project is the production of ethanol

from corn stover .

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE
To see the effect of electrolyzed water and two step pretreatment

method
To know the optimal temperature and time that gives the highest

possible efficiency of converting corn stover to ethanol.

To analysis physical characteristics of the product

LITERATURE REVIEW
Ethanol plays a key role in policy discussions about energy,

agriculture, taxes, and the environment. Mostly it is from molasses

that available solely in sugar industries. Fuel ethanol is generally
blended in gasoline to reduce emissions, increase octane, and
extend gasoline stocks.
How to make ethanol
Ethanol can be produced in two different ways: through

fermentation and through ethylene hydration. Fermentation is a

biological process, while ethylene hydration is a petrochemical
one.

CONT.
During fermentaion by using the types of yeast

Saccharomyces cerevisiae, break down of simple

sugar into alcohol and CO2.
C6H12O6 2 CH3CH2OH + 2 CO2
During ethylene hydration an acid is normally used as

a catalyst for the process;

C2H4(g) + H2O(g) CH3CH2OH(l)

CONT.
The two primary ways of producing fuel ethanol from
cellulosic feedstock are:
Biochemical conversion process and
Thermo chemical conversion process

Biochemical Conversion Process

The

technology of ethanol production from biomass

feedstocks consists of several steps, and varies depending on

the type of raw materials used for production of ethanol from
cellulosic feedstocks;

CONT.
Four major unit operations are required:

o Pretreatment
o Hydrolysis
o Fermentation
o separation and purification

Thermo-chemical Conversion Process

This process route includes production of synagas using

gasification of the biomass. This synagas can be converted into

ethanol through catalytic synthesis.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Materials use

Function

Knife

used for cutting corn stover

Sand bath

to heat the sample

Analytical balance

to measure the weight of grind

sample

Distillation/Dehydration

to separate ethanol from water

mixture

Thermometer

to read the temperature

Fermenter

used for convert hydrolyzed sample

to ethanol

CONT.
Chemicals

function

Sulfuric Acid

as a pretreatment and hydrolysis

(H2SO4)
Sodium Hydroxide

to adjust the pH of soluble cellulose and

(NaOH)

hemicelluloses before fermentation

Yeast

in order to facilitate fermentation

reaction

Experimental procedure
Pretreatment

Lignocellulosic biomass

Hydrolysis

Sugar
Cellulose/hemicelluloses

Fermentation

Yeast/bacteria

Ethanol
Distillation

DDGS

Ethanol/190proof/
Dehydration

Ethanol/200 proof/

Flow diagram of preparation of ethanol from corn stover

Benefit and beneficiary

Benefits
It is used for vehicles
To reduces green house gases
Used for different industries
Lower petroleum usage, (i.e. ethanol reduce global dependency on

oil).
Beneficiary
The owner of vehicles due to reduce the cost of ethanol.
Passengers due to reduce cost of transportation.

Tentative operational calendar

No.

Activities/task

November
01-05

Selection of project title

Literature gathering

Preparing the project proposal

Submitting proposal

Preparation of raw materials

Experimental analysis

Data analysis

Writing project drafts

Preparing final draft project work

10

Submission of the final document

December

06-

13-

10

30

01-20

21-28

2930

WE HAVE FINISHED
TANK YOU!!!