(181c) Economic Production Of BIO-Ethanol From Various Indigenous Sources In India-A Review

Ethanol is usually produced in India by fermentation of molasses (generally 5% on cane)   with a yield, 250.7 liter per tons of molasses with yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae or by strains, Zymomonas mobilis. Uses of cane juice, jaggerry, mohua flower are also used in some installations. An alternative feedstock for ethanol production is ligno-cellulosic biomass;bagasse ,rice straw, cotton straw, groundnut  shells, wood and forest residues, waste paper products, paper and pulp mill wastes using thermophilic anaerobic bacteria, Clostridium thermocellum. Cellulose enzyme produced by aerobic mesophilic fungus, Trichoderma reesei, also releases glucose from plant biomass and converts to ethanol by simultaneous saccharification and  fermentation.

Acid hydrolysate of hemicelluloses extracted from bagasse and other agriculture wastes by fermentation with the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiaehas also been a potential feedstock.

Starch based natural produce like wheat, rice, millets, potatoes, corn, tapioca can also be a potential and economic source of ethanol production. In this paper potential for profitable production of alcohol by various indigenous sources are reviewed. Economics of alcohol manufacture  in relation to various constraints is discussed.