New bio-energy source for biofuel from indigenous kepayang fruit in Malaysia

Abstract

Renewable fuel production, especially bioethanol, continues to show great promise in meeting current energy demands while reducing greenhouse gas emissions for a more sustainable environment. The indigenous fruit of kepayang was researched and used to manufacture bioethanol in this article. Pretreatment, acid hydrolysis, fermentation, and distillation are the processes involved in bioethanol production. First, three sections of kepayang fruit are hydrolyzed at a constant temperature with varying acid concentrations (5%, 10% & 15% v/v) and then fermented with yeast for 48 h. In the meantime, a small-scale reactor system is being designed to conduct bioethanol processing at various temperatures. Following that, multiple bioethanols and industrial ethanol tests will be conducted, including Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FTIR) analysis, density measurement, flue gas analyzer, and diesel engine output monitoring. As 15% (v/v) dilute sulfuric acid was used, kepayang fruit flesh produced the highest glucose and bioethanol concentrations of 275.66 g/l and 231.18 g/l, respectively. Furthermore, 35 °C was the best temperature for producing the largest bioethanol concentration. Furthermore, the lower the gas pollution level, the greater the concentration of ethanol blended with diesel fuel. Finally, the diesel engine's output would suffer if the ethanol-to-diesel blend ratio is improved.

Keywords:

• Kepayang fruit
• acid hydrolysis
• bioethanol production
• glucose consumption
• temperature

Disclosure statement

The authors reported no potential competing interests.

Funding

The author would like to thank University Malaysia Sarawak for the support.