Impact of Storage Time, Rain and Quality of Molasses in theProduction of Bioethanol

Abstract

Due to environmental concerns and the rising prices of petroleum products, usually bio-ethanol is beingproduced in greater amount from sugar cane molasses in Pakistan. In this work various propertiesrelated to molasses are being analyzed by performing experiments at the Distillery Plant, AASML (Al-Abbas Sugar Mills Limited), Mirpurkhas, Sindh, Pakistan. Brix, Sucrose, pH, ethyl alcohol, RS (ReducingSugar), TSI (Total Sugar as an Invert), TS (Total Sugar), purity and presence of micro-organisms arescrutinized. In addition, the effects of quality parameters of pre-fermentation and fermentation for ethylalcohol production, time impact on stored molasses and consequences of rain on quality of molasses arestudied. It was observed from the study that good quality molasses which is the raw material for alcoholproduction should be used in fermentation process. Molasses must be stored in steel tanks to prevent itfrom contamination and loss of fermentable sugars. The prefermenters need to steam sterilized, cleanedand washed before inoculation of yeast cells so that the yeast grows healthy to produce maximum ethylalcohol in fermenters. The water used for hydrolysis of molasses in fermentation should be clean,filtered and good quality nutrients must be used for the growth of yeasts. Finally, efficiency and yield arecalculated and t-test has been performed to depict a direct relationship of the fermentable sugar withefficiency.