Effect of Pretreatment and Composition of Trichoderma Viride and Zymomonas Mobilis Consortium on Bioethanol Production from Leaf Litter

Bioethanol is an alternative biofuel that is widely produced in bulk to replace and complement petroleum-based fuels. Bioethanol is produced through the alcoholic fermentation of sucrose or simple sugars. One of the potential source for bioethanol production that has not been studied is leaf litter. Various studies have shown that T. viride and Z. mobilis can be used for bioethanol production, but there has been no report on the production of bioethanol from leaf litter using a consortium of T. viride and Z. mobilis using the SSF method. This study aims to examine the effect of pretreatment and composition of the consortium of T. viride and Z. mobilis on the production of bioethanol from leaf litter. Leaf litter was dried and mashed, then pretreatment was carried out with 32% NH3 solution. The bioethanol production process using the SSF method uses a consortium of T. viride and Z. mobilis with a composition of 5%: 5%, 10%: 5%, 5%: 10% and 10%: 10% (w/v). SSF was carried out for 72 hours at a temperature of 35oC and pH 5. The bioethanol was purified by distillation and the ethanol content was tested with GCMS. Higher levels of bioethanol were found in leaf litter with pretreatment than without pretreatment. The highest ethanol content (0.6721%) was obtained from SSF with consortium composition of T. viride : Z. mobilis (10% : 10%) from leaf litter with pretreatment. Pretreatment and composition of the consortium T. viride and Z. mobilis affect the production of bioethanol from leaf litter.