PRODUKSI DAN UJI KARAKTERISTIK BIOETANOL DARI KULIT PISANG RAJA (MUSA PARADISIACA)

Abstract

The rapid increase in the number of vehicles has led to a corresponding rise in fuel demand, especially for gasoline. Bioethanol is one of the alternative fuels that can serve as a solution to replace or mix with gasoline. The peel of the Cavendish banana can be utilized as a raw material for bioethanol production due to its carbohydrate content. The objective of this study is to analyze the volume and ethanol content produced from the distillation process using pumice stone as an adsorbent with variations in mesh sizes of 60, 70, and 80. A 5% alcohol solution is used to simulate the fermentation results of Cavendish banana peels, which is then distilled five times. In the third distillation, variations in the mesh sizes of the pumice stone (60, 70, and 80) are introduced, and the optimal size will be used for subsequent distillation. The results of this study indicate that the optimal pumice stone size is mesh 70, yielding 188 ml of distillation with an ethanol content of 87.9%.

Keywords: bioethanol, banana peels, pumice stone