OBTAINING COMBUSTIBLE BIOETHANOL-GEL FROM EICHHORNIA CRASSIPES PLANTS

Eichhornia crassipes is a plant that alters the functioning of aquatic ecosystems by threatening fisheries, river transport, tourism and biodiversity conservation.The aim of this work is to enhance the value of Eichhornia crassipes plants, through the study of the kinetics of its conversion into second-generation bioethanol by the enzymatic process and by fermentation to obtain a combustible bioethanol-gel. During the study, the fermentation performance of Angel super alcohol active dry yeast in the production of bioethanol from the wort of Eichhornia crassipes was tested. The monitoring of fermentation kinetic parameters such as pH, acidity, density and Brix, showed a high variability of these parameters during the fermentation process. The distillation of the musts at the end of fermentation allowed to obtain ethanol extraction rates (% v/v at 20°C) of between 4.42 and 12.36 after a first distillation and 12.78 to 73.18 after a second distillation. The combustible bioethanol-gel was produced after the total dehydration of the ethanol obtained. In conclusion, this study made it possible to set up a process for upgrading water hyacinth into combustible bioethanol-gel with a view to large-scale production.