PRODUCTION OF ETHANOL USING CELLULOSIC MATERIALS

Abstract

Due to rising demand worldwide, it is predicted that within ten years, the amount of energy consumed will increase by almost 50%. The primary source of energy, petroleum oil, is rapidly running out both in Pakistan and globally. This predicament will highlight the necessity for alternative and renewable resources to meet the steadily growing demand for vitality. Ethanol can be mixed with diesel to form up to 20-80 Ethanol-Diesel mixtures. It's common to think of the production of ethanol from maize feedstock and sugar as posing a threat to food production, food consumption, and rising food and biofuel costs. This is why the manufacture of ethanol from cellulose-based biomass is so attractive, as it reduces competition with the food industry by employing non-edible biomass as a feedstock. Furthermore, compared to bioethanol and gasoline, cellulosic ethanol ensures lower carbon emissions. Our project's primary goal is to demonstrate the manufacture of cellulosic ethanol on Aspen plus using agricultural wastes as raw materials (namely, rice husk) that are conveniently and affordably available in Pakistan. The primary goal is to manufacture affordable, environmentally friendly ethanol. The process starts with the pretreatment of biomass, then moves on to the gasification of biomass, fermentation of syngas to ethanol, and finally, the distillation of ethanol-water mixture to produce 95% pure weight/weight ethanol while using less energy and under optimal temperature and pressure (TP) conditions. The project's findings show that cellulosic ethanol is in fact the most dependable energy source that will help us achieve sustainable development.