International Science Community Association International Research Journal of Biological Sciences 2278-3202 7 12 2018 12 10 Bioethanol production from mild alkali pretreated sawdust and groundnut shells 8 14 EN Pahari Priti Ranjan 1 PG Department of Zoology, Tamralipta Mahavidyalaya, Tamluk, Purba Medinipur, West Bengal, 721636, India Das Mitali 2 PG Department of Zoology, Tamralipta Mahavidyalaya, Tamluk, Purba Medinipur, West Bengal, 721636, India Bhattacharya Tanmay 3 Department of Zoology, Vidyasagar University, Midnapore, West Bengal, 721102, India Kaur Sundeep 1 Department of Microbiology, Dolphin (PG) College of Science and Agriculture, Chunni Kalan-140307, Punjab, India . Sonam 2 Department of Microbiology, Dolphin (PG) College of Science and Agriculture, Chunni Kalan-140307, Punjab, India Kaur Pardeep 3 Department of Microbiology, Dolphin (PG) College of Science and Agriculture, Chunni Kalan-140307, Punjab, India > Research Paper 2018 8 10 2018 12 10 Lignocellulosic materials like sawdust (SD) and groundnut shells (GS) are abundant renewable resources exploited for second generation bioethanol production. The present study investigated the production of bioethanol from mild alkaline pre-treated SD and GS. The SD and GS were pre-treated with 1% (w/v) NaOH followed by autoclaving at 121ºC for 45 min. The pre-treated biomass revealed 20% and 32% loss of lignin content, accompanied with a release of 2.97g/100 g and 2.47 g/100 g sugars in the pre-treated hydrolysate of SD and GS. The pre-treated biomass also revealed changes in physical characteristics such as 18.5% and 21.8% weight loss and change in colour intensity. The saccharification of pre-treated SD and GS by commercial cellulase (ex Aspergillus niger) resulted in maximum reducing sugar content of 15.64g/100g and 8.48g/100 g at 48h and 24h of incubation, respectively. The fermentation of hydrolysate (saccharified and pretreated) of SD and GS with Saccharomyces cerevisiae resulted in 5.48g/100g and 2.84g/100g bioethanol at 120h of incubation, respectively. Copyright@ International Science Community Association