Production of Bioethanol from Dragon Fruit Wastes by Using Aspergillus niger and Saccharomyces cerevisae

Abstract

East Kalimantan can produce dragon fruit throughout the year, while East Java is only in the rainy season. This fruit will be produced abundantly when the peak season comes and often becomes waste. To reduce this cellulosic waste from the traditional market, we attempt to convert the dragon fruit waste into bioethanol. In this study, the ability of co-cultures (A. niger and S. cerevisiae) and monoculture (only S. cerevisiae) to produce bioethanol was evaluated. The red dragon fruit waste was treated with simultaneous saccharification and fermentation using Aspergillus niger. Saccharomyces cerevisiae showed the highest alcohol concentration was 48.0%, after three weeks of incubation. Subsequently, the use of only S. cerevisiae to produce bioethanol was found to have 64.5% alcohol concentration after two weeks of incubation. The highest alcohol concentration was shown when the concentration of S. cerevisiae was 0.67%. These observations confirm that mono-culture has higher alcohol concentration compared to co-cultures treatment.