Author(s)

Philomena Kanwulia Igbokwe, Christian Nnabuike Idogwu, Joseph Tagbo Nwabanne

Department of Chemical Engineering, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Nigeria.

The aim of this work was to optimize the hydrolysis and fermentation of plantain peels. Kinetic study was also carried out. Proximate analysis of plantain peels was carried out and the result showed that it contains 46% cellulose. Aspergillus niger isolated and screened for cellulase activities was used as the crude enzyme for the hydrolysis and commercial availableSaccharomyces cerevisae was used for the fermentation. The optimization was done using quadratic model of central composite rotatable design for both hydrolysis and fermentation. Analysis of variance ANOVA was used to test for the significance of the model and the factors. The results of the analysis showed that temperature, time, pH and the substrate concentration significantly affected the yield of simple sugar in the hydrolysis of plantain peels. The result equally showed that temperature, time and pH were significant factors of fermentation. The optimum conditions for the hydrolysis were 35°C, 5 days, and pH of 5.5, substrate concentration of 8 g/30ml and glucose yield of 49%. Also the optimum conditions of fermentation were obtained as 30°C, pH of 4.0, 9 days and ethanol yield of 19%. The Michaelis-Menten model adequately fit both the hydrolysis and fermentation kinetics.

Ethanol, Hydrolysis, Fermentation, Optimization, Kinetics

Igbokwe, P. , Idogwu, C. and Nwabanne, J. (2016) Enzymatic Hydrolysis and Fermentation of Plantain Peels: Optimization and Kinetic Studies. Advances in Chemical Engineering and Science, 6, 216-235. doi: 10.4236/aces.2016.62023.