Wh to Bioeth
WTHESIS STATEMENT: “BIOCONVERSION OF WATER HYACINTH (EICHHORNIA CRASSIPES) TO ETHANOL.”
1. INTRODUCTION
Water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) is a free-floating or rooted in mud plant or weed which can totally cover fresh water lakes, harbors, and other essentially relatively occluded fresh water bodies. It is a fast growing permanent aquatic plant that are extensively scattered all throughout the world. This tropical plant can be the reason for the infestation over large areas of water resources and thus lead to a series of problems. Water hyacinth is considered as a nuisance in many parts of the world because of its effects in the waterways and in the degradation of water quality by means of depleting the dissolved oxygen. Moreover, due to high evapotranspiration it adds to water crisis all over the places where it grows. It can cause physical problems, ecological and economical impacts. It can also affect the recreational users, such as divers, swimmers and fishers, by causing underwater visibility and biodiversity problems. It is a well known ornamental plants found in water gardens and aquariums, its stem and leaves contain air-filled sacs that help them to stay afloat in water. In many developing countries, it is widely used as a traditional medicine as their root and leaf extracts arerecognized to treat certain illness (swelling, burning, hemorrhage, and goiters), and even used to get rid of toxic elements from polluted water bodies. They are used totreat certain inflammatory conditions of veterinary animals. They are also used as a vegetable crop(leaves, petiole and flowers) in some parts of the world (Philippines, Java) and are known to be rich in carotene, protein and carbohydrates. On the other hand, global depletion of energy supply is being one of a major problem of the present and future world community, thus development of an alternative energy technology is seriously vital. The most widely used biofuel is bioethanol. One of the
1. INTRODUCTION
Water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) is a free-floating or rooted in mud plant or weed which can totally cover fresh water lakes, harbors, and other essentially relatively occluded fresh water bodies. It is a fast growing permanent aquatic plant that are extensively scattered all throughout the world. This tropical plant can be the reason for the infestation over large areas of water resources and thus lead to a series of problems. Water hyacinth is considered as a nuisance in many parts of the world because of its effects in the waterways and in the degradation of water quality by means of depleting the dissolved oxygen. Moreover, due to high evapotranspiration it adds to water crisis all over the places where it grows. It can cause physical problems, ecological and economical impacts. It can also affect the recreational users, such as divers, swimmers and fishers, by causing underwater visibility and biodiversity problems. It is a well known ornamental plants found in water gardens and aquariums, its stem and leaves contain air-filled sacs that help them to stay afloat in water. In many developing countries, it is widely used as a traditional medicine as their root and leaf extracts arerecognized to treat certain illness (swelling, burning, hemorrhage, and goiters), and even used to get rid of toxic elements from polluted water bodies. They are used totreat certain inflammatory conditions of veterinary animals. They are also used as a vegetable crop(leaves, petiole and flowers) in some parts of the world (Philippines, Java) and are known to be rich in carotene, protein and carbohydrates. On the other hand, global depletion of energy supply is being one of a major problem of the present and future world community, thus development of an alternative energy technology is seriously vital. The most widely used biofuel is bioethanol. One of the