Abstract
Background: To cope up with the rapid growth of cities, automation, computation, at the same time, the global pollution level for increasing combustion of fossil fuels to energy, the need of hour is to find an alternative energy resource from renewable fuels.
Methods: Glucose and alcohol based biofuels were produced from pretreated mango tree wood floor by enzymatic saccharification and fermentation. It was found that pretreatment of the biomass has a strong effect on the quantity of the fuel produced. The fuel converted by enzymatic saccharification was a glucose based fuel, while that by fermentation was an alcohol based fuel.
Results: The quantity of fuel produced was estimated as the amount oxygen required for its full combustion (COD mg/l). The COD was higher for the alcoholic based fuel than the former one. Both the fuels could be converted to pure electrical energy by electrochemical oxidation on a electrolytically developed MnO2. The MnO2 anode was produced by electrolytic decomposition from MnSO4 solution.
Conclusion: This inexpensive electrode outperformed the well known Pt electrocatalytic material and delivered a current density in the range of 5-12 mA/cm2.
Keywords: Biofuel, combustion, electro catalytic material, energy, fuel cell, woody biomass.
Graphical Abstract