Chemical Science International Journal

Sustainable and renewable biofuels as well as coastal preservation are important to Nigeria. By managing water hyacinth in canals and lakes in Delta state, the biomass of this fast growing aquatic plant can reduce coastal erosion by absorbing wave energy, and remediate waste water through bioabsorption of contaminants, while also providing a source of biofuel. This study explores the best methods for harvesting and drying water hyacith as well as breaking down the lignocellulosic materials into simple sugars fermentable for ethanol production. Pretreatment of water hyacinth leaf, stem and root with 2% v/v of acids (HCOOH, HCl and H₂SO₄) and 3% v/v of bases (NaOH and KOH) was carried out. Samples were also pretreated with varying concentration (1, 2, 3, 4, 5% v/v) of the individual pretreatment solutions. This research showed that water hyacinth leaf, stem and root produced 10.55, 7.11 and 9.03 mg glucose per g sample respectively after pretreatment with 4% v/v H₂SO₄ 3% v/v HCl and 3% v/v KOH respectively. The future interest of this research is ethanol production and the result shows that water hyacinth could produce a high ethanol yield from fermentable sugars based on current work.