Bioethanol production from sugarcane molasses by instant dry yeast

Sugarcane molasses is a by-product of sugarcane products that can be used as bioethanol production. Bioethanol is ethanol produced through a fermentation process that can be done by various microorganisms such as Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Commercial instant dry yeast on this fermentation was chosen because it can be directly used as a starter to simplify the production process and reduce the bacterial contamination risk. The sugar industry in West Java is one of the sugarcane processing industries that produce molasses in Indonesia. Then molasses were processed into bioethanol. However, the ethanol content on bioethanol production in this industry is low (+/- 4-6%). Some factors can cause low ethanol production such as the presence of mineral contents and sugar concentrations in molasses. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of H2SO4 pretreatment and sugar concentration on ethanol production. Three level of sugar concentration i.e. 20%, 25% and 30% Brix were compared for ethanol production using with and without pretreated molasses. The obtained data were analyzed statistically using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). Under the best condition (30% sugar concentration with H2SO4 pretreatment), the ethanol concentration could be increased by 3.5-5.5%.