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

This study aimed to produce ethanol from a banana (Musa paradisiaca) peduncle. Banana peduncle, which is 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 the blended banana peduncle, and 5g of yeast. Mass, volume, density, specific gravity, percent ethanol, ethanol volume, and flammability after the distillation process was gathered. It was revealed that the 3-week 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 a high percentage of ethanol. The flammability test showed that all the distillates produced a blue flame, which indicated a high percent of ethanol.