PRODUCTION OF BIOETHANOL BY SIMPLE BATCH FERMENTATION OF ACACIA ETBAICA (SERAW): A POTENTIAL BIOMASS RESOURCE FOR ERITREA

Socio-economic progress of a specific nation determined by the amended energy facilities. Electricity produced from Eritrea majorly relies on imported fossil fuels. In the global scenario, recently bioethanol derived from lignocellulosic biomass sources has become a significant renewable energy form as a blended fuel for the transportation sector.Woodland forest covers totally 60% of the total land in Eritrea. Acacia etbaica, a bushy wood plant native to Eritrea was selected as a feedstock for bioethanol production. Two stage fermentation of aerobic followed by anaerobic in the presence of yeast made potential to generate 3.9% (v/v) bioethanol from Acacia etbaica (Seraw) via multistage dilute H2SO4 pretreatment. Bioethanol was purified by a simple batch distillation and the first stage distillate was identified with 13 % of ethanol by UV spectrophotometer. With a dedication of50,000 ha of land, Eritrea can harvest 45000 ton/year of Acacia etbaica biomass and subsequently produce 15620 lit/year of bioethanol for a 5 year crop rotation.