Pengaruh Variasi Derajat Keasaman dan Lama Fermentasi Limbah Buah Pepaya (Carica Papaya L.) dalam Produksi Bioetanol

Abstract

The availability of fuel is decreasing along with the increasing demand for oil fuel. Bioethanol is a renewable and developable alternative energy source. Bioethanol can be produced using rotten fruit waste, which contains starch, sugar, and their derivatives and avoided use as food. One fruit waste that can be used in bioethanol production is papaya. This research aims to determine the optimum pH and fermentation duration for producing ethanol and examine the effect of varying pH and fermentation duration on the amount produced. This research used a factorial Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with two factors: pH and fermentation duration. Each treatment was repeated 3 times. Glucose was obtained through hydrolysis with H₂SO₄, while fermentation was carried out using the microorganism Zymomonas mobilis and Saccharomyces cerevisiae microorganisms from baker's yeast. Urea is added as a nitrogen source. The results showed that the optimum pH and fermentation duration for ethanol production were at pH 4.5 with a fermentation duration of 7 days, yielding 4.00%. ANOVA test indicated that pH significantly affects fermentation yield, distillation yield, and the ethanol content produced, and there is an interaction between pH and fermentation duration on the fermentation yield produced.