Date

10-2009

Degree

Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering

College

College of Engineering and Agro-Industrial Technology (CEAT)

Adviser/Committee Chair

Rex B. Demafelis

Co-adviser

Francisco B. Elegado

Committee Member

Veronica P. Migo, Jovita L. Movillon

Abstract

Triplicate aerobic batch reactions of dilute-acid hydrolysis of the Jatropha curcas cake substrate were done to estimate the optimum pH conditions and duration of autoclaving. The highest value of reducing sugars recorded was 86.5916g/L obtained by hydrolyzing the samples at pH 1.0 for 30 minutes. Fermentation of neutralized Jatropha press cake samples were also done. The highest titratable obtained was 0.36703% or 3.67g/L lactic acid observed in pH 5.0 sample during the first day. The highest observed increase in lactic acid concentration was in pH 6.0 (33.51%), also during the first day. The fermentation lasted for a day which was mainly due to the limited fermentable sugars available in the substrate. The fermentation of unhydrolyzed Jatropha gave the highest value 11,9313g/L lactic acid as of the fourth day. The difference suggest that the hydrolysis procedure optimum for Jatropha cake was enough to char the cassava starch, resulting to failure in the utilization of its starch and sugars instead of ease in utilization due to break down of complex sugars. While the use of Jatropha curcas L. as substrate was possible, further optimization is still needed for it to be suitable for large scale productions of lactic acid. It may also be feasible to utilize Jatropha cake as protein supplement for the fermentation of raw cassava starch. This would probably provide a good alternative to reduce the fermentation costs due to chemical supplements.

Language

English

Call Number

LG 993.5 2009 E62 P47

Document Type

Thesis

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