The research was carried out by  Department of Civil and Environmental Technology, Faculty of Technology, USJ, Prof. Nilmini Liyanage; Department of Materials and Mechanical Technology, Faculty of Technology, USJ, Mr. Sadeep Jayasankha (M.Phil. Student); Department of Civil and Environmental Technology, Faculty of Technology, USJ.

Blended bioethanol was produced by mixing Bioethanol with Petrol to produce E5 which is 5% Bioethanol, E10 which is 10% ethanol and E20 which is 20% ethanol. Engine performance and the flue gas emissions are tested and analyzed for the blended bioethanol. Total Sulphur emissions are less compared to the emissions with gasoline. The use of waste fruits as the feedstock reduces the production cost of the process and raises the demand for bioethanol. This study shows that the banana waste can serve as raw materials for ethanol production.

It has been estimated around 270000 tons of harvested fruits (about 30% of banana, 46% of papaya, 18% of pineapple, 40% of lime, 41% of avocado and 90% of jackfruits) are wasted in 91´«Ă˝ annually due to improper management of packaging, handling transportation and storage. Therefore, there is a big chance to study producing bioethanol using fruit wastes as a possible fuel substitute.

They performed this research with a university research grant (Grant Number: ´ˇł§±Ę/01/¸é·ˇ/°Ő·ˇ°ä/2021/65)Ěýto identify the possibility of using fruit waste as a raw material for bioethanol production to replace gasoline.

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Endocrine disruptor Tributyltin (TBT) found in water and invertebrates in ship traffic zones for the first time in 91´«Ă˝ – USJ Water Quality and Algae Research

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“Cyanobacteria blooms have potential and usefulness in the production of biofuel”, said Snr. , Dean of the Faculty of Graduate Sciences and Director, Centre for Water Quality and Algae Research, Department of Zoology, 91´«Ă˝. As a first step, in 2016, the study team launched an experiment to synthesize biodiesel from a toxic Microcystis bloom in Beira Lake, which was a success, marking the first time in 91´«Ă˝ that researchers could convert cyanobacterial lipids into high-quality biodiesel

Furthermore, the research team is currently working on bacteria-mediated bioethanol production from cellulose biomass, which is a novel concept, and their recent study has published data on the isolation of potential “cellulase-producing” bacteria from cow dung, compost soil, and termite gut, as well as the isolation of sugar, fermenting bacteria from palm wine. Moving forward, they’ve applied the technology to bioethanol production from paper waste and corn cobs, as well as determining the usability of synthesized bioethanol as a fuel blend suitable for diesel engines and determining the usability of bioethanol-diesel blend emulsions by testing fuel parameters at Ceypetco Corporation in 91´«Ă˝.

Other members of Research team from Centre for Water Quality and Algae Research, Department of Zoology are Mr. D. A. T. Madusanka, Ms. W. M. L. I. Weerasinghe, and Ms. Y. S. Chandrasiri.

“We are also conducting a new research on bioethanol production from solid wastes with our recent IICE competitive research grant”, says Prof. Pathmalal.

Read the full Research Articles:

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