ABSTRACT
Simultaneous Saccharification and Fermentation (SSF) were carried out to produce ethanol from maize stalk in 500ml conical flask. Aspergillus niger strains were isolated from four difference sources, maize stalk, soil, bambaranut, rotten wood. Cellulose degrading ability was screened by zone of clearance carried out by simple agar method.. Apergillus strain from rotten wood (ANRW) produced the largest zone of clearance of 6.5mm; hence it was selected for further studies. The effect of pH, temperature, substrate particle size, and substrate concentration were studies and optimized to be 5.0, 3oC, 300um, 3% respectively.Aspergillus niger was modified using UV irradiation technique by varying the exposure timings. The strain expose at 30 minutes gave largest zone of clearance and hence was selected. The ethanol yield by simultaneous saccharification and fermentation of modified and unmodified strain of A. niger and saccharomyces cerevisae isolate from burkutu by Debo in Micro biology department ABU Zaria was compared at optimum condition pH 5.0,temperature 30oC, 3%, substrate concentration and 300um substrate particle respectively. The mutant strain from the UV irradiation gave the maximum ethanol yieldof9.3g/100ml which is higher than that of parent strain 3.4g/100ml.