Comparative Studies Of Yellow And White Corn Varieties For Fuel Ethanol Production

Abstract

Fuel Ethanol is simply ethanol produced for use as fuel. Two corn varieties were dry ground and their starch contents were compared. The highest starch content was achieved in yellow corn. Of the two varieties of corn, Yellow corn gave the highest starch content (64 %) and the least was exhibited by white corn (57 %).Use of koji and yeast as source of enzyme for hydrolysis and ethanol fermentation was done and for the two substrates (corn flour). Comparison of gelatinized corn with koji enzymes for yellow corn and white corn for simultaneous hydrolysis and fermentation under same condition was investigated. The highest ethanol concentration was obtained with the yellow corn. It showed that yellow corn gave significantly higher ethanol (P=0.005) than the other corn varieties. The ethanol, glucose and starch concentrations were also studied. Although, high initial starch concentration gave the highest ethanol concentration on simultaneous hydrolysis and ethanol fermentation of the two corn varieties showed that yellow corn alone was better than white corn variety.