Abstract:
Alcohol is one of the chemicals produced from plants that
contains starch, sugar and lignocellulose. Alcohols produced from
plants containing starch, sugar and lignocellulose are usually referred
to as bioethanol. In general, ethanol/bioethanol has very broad
benefits such as being used as raw material for alcohol-derived
industries, basic ingredients for the pharmaceutical industry, as an
antiseptic, as a preservative, solvent and can also be used as a fuel
mixture for vehicles. The aims of study are determine the optimum
combination of palm juice fermentation time to produce alcohol and
determine the increase in alcohol content after distillation. The
method used in this research is an experimental method, calculating
the length of fermentation time and determining the alcohol content
after distillation. The results showed that: The length of time the palm
sap fermentation had an effect on the alcohol content of the palm sap,
with the optimum fermentation time for 48 hours, which was 5.5%;
The process of distillation of palm sap stage I at 48 hours of
fermentation with a volume of 3 liters obtained as much as 410 ml of
alcohol with a level of 47%. Then phase II distillation was carried out
to increase the alcohol content to a higher level, obtained 112 ml of
alcohol with an alcohol content of 89%; The alcohol yield resulting
from the distillation of 3 liters of palm sap for 90 minutes was 3.37%.