Review on optimised process parameters of bioethanol production for environmental sustainability
MINAL P Deshmukh, DHANASHRI S Pendse
Abstract. Water hyacinth is a commonly grown aquatic plant. It causes a menace in water bodies due to its large mat formation. It is removed from water bodies through physical, chemical, or biological methods. These methods are costly and ineffective as the plant grows again quickly. Since the plant is easily available, it has been explored as a potential source of lignocellulose biomass for biofuel production. This review paper reflects upon the important steps in processing water hyacinth plants for producing biofuel. A quick summary of the research concerning pre-treatment methods, enzyme hydrolysis, and fermentation studies shows that acid pre-treatment followed by cellulase enzyme hydrolysis and using acidic conditions for fermentation up to 3 days at room temperature gives optimum ethanol and sugar yields. The main challenge in the commercialization of bioethanol production from water hyacinth biomass is the low ethanol yield obtained as compared to other feedstock like sugarcane bagasse and corn stover. However, from an environmental point of view, by converting waste biomass into a valuable energy resource, bioethanol production from water hyacinth promotes a circular economy and sustainable resource management.
Keywords
Biofuel, Water Plants, Fermentation, Energy, Environmental Sustainability
Published online 4/25/2025, 17 pages
Copyright © 2025 by the author(s)
Published under license by Materials Research Forum LLC., Millersville PA, USA
Citation: MINAL P Deshmukh, DHANASHRI S Pendse, Review on optimised process parameters of bioethanol production for environmental sustainability, Materials Research Proceedings, Vol. 53, pp 50-66, 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21741/9781644903575-4
The article was published as article 4 of the book Decarbonization Technology
Content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.
References
[1] E. Suarez, M. Awasthi, J. Kaur, and S. Rana, “Bioethanol Production Through Water Hyacinth, Eichhornia Crassipes Via Optimization of the Pretreatment Conditions,” ICERTSD2013 Int. J. Emerg. Technol. Adv. Eng., vol. 3, pp. 42–46, 2013, [Online]. Available: www.ijetae.com
[2] S. Premjet, “Potential of Weed Biomass for Bioethanol Production,” Fuel Ethanol Prod. from Sugarcane, 2019. https://doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.77507
[3] Q. Zhang, C. Weng, H. Huang, V. Achal, and D. Wang, “Optimization of bioethanol production using whole plant of water hyacinth as substrate in simultaneous saccharification and fermentation process,” Front. Microbiol., vol. 6, no. JAN, pp. 1–9, 2016. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2015.01411
[4] S. Mukhopadhyay and N. C. Chatterjee, “Bioconversion of water hyacinth hydrolysate into ethanol,” BioResources, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 1301–1310, 2010.
[5] D. S. Pendse, M. Deshmukh, and A. Pande, “Different pre-treatments and kinetic models for bioethanol production from lignocellulosic biomass: A review,” Heliyon, vol. 9, no. 6, p. e16604, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e16604
[6] C. Isarankura-na-ayudhya and T. Tantimongcolwat, “Original article : Appropriate Technology for the Bioconversion of Water Hyacinth ( Eichhornia crassipes ) to Liquid Ethanol : Future Prospects for Community Strengthening and Sustainable Development,” EXCLI J., vol. 6, no. May, pp. 167–176, 2007.
[7] M. Deshmukh and A. Pande, “Comparative Study for Production of Biofuel from Potato Peel Waste as Feedstock by Different Enzymes,” Enzym. Eng., vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 1–6, 2022. https://doi.org/10.35841/2329-6674.22.11.1000175
[8] T. Takagi, M. Uchida, R. Matsushima, M. Ishida, and N. Urano, “Efficient bioethanol production from water hyacinth Eichhornia crassipes by both preparation of the saccharified solution and selection of fermenting yeasts,” Fish. Sci., vol. 78, no. 4, pp. 905–910, Jul. 2012. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12562-012-0516-2
[9] C. G. Sierra-Carmona, M. G. Hernández-Orduña, and R. Murrieta-Galindo, “Alternative Uses of Water Hyacinth (Pontederia crassipes) from a Sustainable Perspective: A Systematic Literature Review,” Sustain., vol. 14, no. 7, pp. 1–14, 2022. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14073931
[10] A. Manivannan and R. T. Narendhirakannan, “Bioethanol Production From Aquatic Weed Water Hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) by Yeast Fermentation,” Waste and Biomass Valorization, vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 209–216, 2015. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12649-015-9347-6
[11] G. K. Gaurav, T. Mehmood, L. Cheng, J. J. Klemeš, and D. K. Shrivastava, “Water hyacinth as a biomass: A review,” J. Clean. Prod., vol. 277, p. 122214, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.122214
[12] T. Istirokhatun, N. Rokhati, R. Rachmawaty, M. Meriyani, S. Priyanto, and H. Susanto, “Cellulose Isolation from Tropical Water Hyacinth for Membrane Preparation,” Procedia Environ. Sci., vol. 23, no. Ictcred 2014, pp. 274–281, 2015. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.proenv.2015.01.041
[13] S. Rezania, M. Ponraj, M. F. M. Din, A. R. Songip, F. M. Sairan, and S. Chelliapan, “The diverse applications of water hyacinth with main focus on sustainable energy and production for new era: An overview,” Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev., vol. 41, pp. 943–954, 2015. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2014.09.006
[14] J. E. Santibañez-Aguilar, J. B. González-Campos, J. M. Ponce-Ortega, M. Serna-González, and M. M. El-Halwagi, “Sustainable processing of water hyacinth through a distributed biorefinery system,” AIChE Annu. Meet. Conf. Proc., no. April 2016, 2012.
[15] M. B. Djihouessi, M. Olokotum, L. C. Chabi, F. Mouftaou, and M. P. Aina, “Paradigm shifts for sustainable management of water hyacinth in tropical ecosystems: A review and overview of current challenges,” Environ. Challenges, vol. 11, no. December 2022, p. 100705, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envc.2023.100705
[16] S. M. M. Shanab, E. A. Hanafy, and E. A. Shalaby, “Water Hyacinth as Non-edible Source for Biofuel Production,” Waste and Biomass Valorization, vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 255–264, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12649-016-9816-6
[17] M. A. Bote, V. R. Naik, and K. B. Jagadeeshgouda, “Review on water hyacinth weed as a potential bio fuel crop to meet collective energy needs,” Mater. Sci. Energy Technol., vol. 3, pp. 397–406, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mset.2020.02.003
[18] S. Mukhopadhyay and B. Nandi, “Optimization of Cellulase Production by Trichoderma reesei ATCC 26921 Using a Simplified Medium on Water Hyacinth Biomass,” J. Sci. Ind. Res. (India)., vol. 58, no. 2, pp. 107–111, 1999.
[19] D. S. Pendse and M. P. Deshmukh, “A comprehensive study on an integrated approach for water hyacinth management to conserve natural water resources in India,” Mater. Today Proc., no. December, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2023.12.047
[20] U. S. Aswathy, R. K. Sukumaran, G. L. Devi, K. P. Rajasree, R. R. Singhania, and A. Pandey, “Bio-ethanol from water hyacinth biomass: An evaluation of enzymatic saccharification strategy,” Bioresour. Technol., vol. 101, no. 3, pp. 925–930, 2010. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2009.08.019
[21] T. Ruan, R. Zeng, X. Y. Yin, S. X. Zhang, and Z. H. Yang, “Water Hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) Biomass as a Biofuel Feedstock by Enzymatic Hydrolysis,” BioResources, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 2372–2380, 2016. https://doi.org/10.15376/BIORES.11.1.2372-2380
[22] M. Deshmukh, A. Pande, and A. Marathe, “Heliyon Different particle size study of castor deoiled cake for biofuel production with an environmental sustainability perspective,” Heliyon, vol. 8, no. January, p. e09710, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e09710
[23] M. Carlini, S. Castellucci, and A. Mennuni, “Water hyacinth biomass: Chemical and thermal pre-treatment for energetic utilization in anaerobic digestion process,” Energy Procedia, vol. 148, pp. 431–438, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egypro.2018.08.106
[24] Kumari, Bhattacharya, Dey, Ganguly, and Chatterje, “Bioethanol Production From Water Hyacinth Biomass Using Isolated Fungal Strain From Local Environment,” J. Biol. Life Sci., vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 516–522, 2014.
[25] F. Amriani, F. A. Salim, I. Iskandinata, D. Khumsupan, and Z. Barta, “Physical and biophysical pretreatment of water hyacinth biomass for cellulase enzyme production,” Chem. Biochem. Eng. Q., vol. 30, no. 2, pp. 237–244, 2016. https://doi.org/10.15255/CABEQ.2015.2284
[26] A. Das, P. Ghosh, T. Paul, U. Ghosh, B. R. Pati, and K. C. Mondal, “Production of bioethanol as useful biofuel through the bioconversion of water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes),” 3 Biotech, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 1–9, 2016. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13205-016-0385-y
[27] S. P. Das, A. Gupta, D. Das, and A. Goyal, “Enhanced bioethanol production from water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) by statistical optimization of fermentation process parameters using Taguchi orthogonal array design,” Int. Biodeterior. Biodegrad., vol. 109, pp. 174–184, 2016. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ibiod.2016.01.008
[28] M. Narra et al., “Cellulase production, simultaneous saccharification and fermentation in a single vessel: A new approach for production of bio-ethanol from mild alkali pre-treated water hyacinth,” J. Environ. Chem. Eng., vol. 5, no. 3, pp. 2176–2181, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jece.2017.04.043
[29] Q. Zhang, Y. Wei, H. Han, and C. Weng, “Enhancing bioethanol production from water hyacinth by new combined pretreatment methods,” Bioresour. Technol., vol. 251, pp. 358–363, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2017.12.085
[30] H. R. Madian, N. M. Sidkey, M. M. Abo Elsoud, H. I. Hamouda, and A. M. Elazzazy, “Bioethanol Production from Water Hyacinth Hydrolysate by Candida tropicalis Y-26,” Arab. J. Sci. Eng., vol. 44, no. 1, pp. 33–41, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13369-018-3247-6
[31] P. Tantayotai, P. Mutrakulchareon, A. Tawai, S. Roddecha, and M. Sriariyanun, “Effect of organic acid pretreatment of water hyacinth on enzymatic hydrolysis and biogas and bioethanol production,” IOP Conf. Ser. Earth Environ. Sci., vol. 346, no. 1, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/346/1/012004
[32] L. A. Figueroa-Torres et al., “Saccharification of water hyacinth biomass by a combination of steam explosion with enzymatic technologies for bioethanol production,” 3 Biotech, vol. 10, no. 10, pp. 1–9, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13205-020-02426-8
[33] Y. S. Ahou et al., “Wet oxidation pretreatment effect for enhancing bioethanol production from cassava peels, water hyacinth, and green algae (Ulva),” AIP Conf. Proc., vol. 2255, no. September, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0013560
[34] E. Romero-Borbón, A. E. Oropeza-González, Y. González-García, and J. Córdova, “Thermochemical and Enzymatic Saccharification of Water Hyacinth Biomass into Fermentable Sugars,” Processes, vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 1–12, 2022. https://doi.org/10.3390/pr10020210
[35] S. Rezania et al., “Review on pretreatment methods and ethanol production from cellulosic water hyacinth,” BioResources, vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 2108–2124, 2017. https://doi.org/10.15376/biores.12.1.rezania.
[36] S. hao Zhao, X. hui Liang, D. liang Hua, T. suo Ma, and H. bing Zhang, “High-yield cellulase production in solid-state fermentation by Trichoderma reesei SEMCC-3.217 using water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes),” African J. Biotechnol., vol. 10, no. 50, pp. 10178–10187, 2011. https://doi.org/10.5897/ajb10.748
[37] R. Sindhu et al., “Water hyacinth a potential source for value addition: An overview,” Bioresour. Technol., vol. 230, pp. 152–162, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2017.01.035.
[38] M. Deshmukh and A. Pathan, “Bambusa tulda: A potential feedstock for bioethanol and its blending effects on the performance of spark ignition engine,” Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev., vol. 192, no. December 2023, p. 114270, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2023.114270
[39] V. Randive, S. Belhekar, and S. Paigude, “Original Research Article Production of Bioethanol From Eichhornia crassipes ( Water Hyacinth ),” vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 399–406, 2015.
[40] M. Deshmukh and A. Pathan, “Transformations of bamboo into bioethanol through biorefinery,” Environ. Sci. Pollut. Res. Int., vol. 31, no. 3, pp. 3343–3360, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-31510-8
[41] J. N. Nigam, “Bioconversion of water-hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) hemicellulose acid hydrolysate to motor fuel ethanol by xylose-fermenting yeast,” J. Biotechnol., vol. 97, no. 2, pp. 107–116, 2002. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0168-1656(02)00013-5
[42] Z. Wang, F. Zheng, and S. Xue, “The economic feasibility of the valorization of water hyacinth for bioethanol production,” Sustain., vol. 11, no. 3, 2019. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11030905
[43] A. G. Bayrakci and G. Koçar, “Second-generation bioethanol production from water hyacinth and duckweed in Izmir: A case study,” Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev., vol. 30, pp. 306–316, 2014. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2013.10.011
[44] M. P. Deshmukh, A. Pande, V. Choudhari, and D. S. Pendse, “Investigation of bioethanol production from jatropha deoiled cake and its blending effects for environmental sustainability,” Environ. Sci. Pollut. Res., vol. 30, no. 47, pp. 103640–103651, Sep. 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-29614-2
[45] O. Khan, A. K. Yadav, M. E. Khan, and M. Parvez, “Characterization of bioethanol obtained from Eichhornia Crassipes plant; its emission and performance analysis on CI engine,” Energy Sources, Part A Recover. Util. Environ. Eff., vol. 43, no. 14, pp. 1793–1803, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1080/15567036.2019.1648600
[46] A. K. Choudhary, H. Chelladurai, and C. Kannan, “Performance analysis of bioethanol (Water Hyacinth) on diesel engine,” Int. J. Green Energy, vol. 13, no. 13, pp. 1369–1379, 2016. https://doi.org/10.1080/15435075.2016.1185724
[47] Y. Zhou, S. Searle, and S. Anup, “Techno-economic analysis of cellulosic ethanol in India using agricultural residues,” ICCT-White Pap., vol. June, no. 1, pp. 1–18, 2021.
