Abstract

                                Pre treatment of sugarcane bagasse with 2% sodium hydroxide at 1.40 kg cm-2 for 1 h resulted in 83% delignification. The hydrolysis of alkali treated bagasse with a commercial preparation of cellulase for 2 h at 50°C resulted in release of 65% total reducing sugars. Maximum sugars were released at enzyme loading of 1.5% (v/v) .The fermentation of hydrolysate supplemented with nutrients by S. cerevisiae resulted in the production of 20-30 g l-1 ethanol after 48 h of incubation, which was further improved with addition of yeast nitrogen base and inoculated

Key words : Cellulose, Ethanol, Fermentation, Sugarcane bagasse, S. cerevisiae