BANANA (Musa paradisiaca) PEDUNCLE AS A POTENTIAL SOURCE OF BIOETHANOL BY YEAST FERMENTAION AND DISTILLATION

This study aimed to produce ethanol from banana (Musa paradisiaca) peduncle. Banana peduncle, which about 13% by weight of the harvested banana cluster, is usually discarded or composted. The study was focused on the extraction of ethanol from chico banana peduncle by yeast fermentation and distillation. The study investigated two factors, the type of yeast (the baker yeast and wine yeast) and the length of fermentation (1 week, 2 weeks, and 3 weeks). Each treatment was replicated thrice. The fermented mixture consists of 500mL of distilled water, 1kg of blended banana peduncle, and 5g of yeast. Mass, volume, density, specific gravity, percent ethanol, ethanol volume, and flammability after the distillation process were gathered. It was revealed that the 3-weeks mixture produced the highest percent ethanol, ethanol volume and mass of ethanol. Although there is no significant difference in the length of fermentation, all the distillates produced contain high percent of ethanol. The flammability test showed that all the distillates produced a blue flame, which indicated the high percent of ethanol.