CHAPTER 1

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Nowadays as we move in time of accelerating change, where there is an abrupt possible shortage
of fuel production. Many countries are greatly affected one of each is our country The Philippines.
Philippines is currently one of the most population of cars in South East Asia. And fuel industry in the
Philippines are slowly decreasing and the price of fuel is increasing as we import fuels from other
countries.
Also, Fuel dominate this world as a mechanical needs, but the production of it is slowly
decreasing. So the demand of Bioethanol as a potential substitute for fuel and as an alternative source of
energy is massively increasing. Also many studies states that the production of Bioethanol is sufficient as
it came from agricultural waste and agricultural crops that is mainly produced by the sugar fermentation
process, although it came from agricultural waste and crops it needs to have reached the maximum
number of sugar required to produce ethanol comes from fuel or energy crops.
Bioethanol is a natural alcohol made by the process of fermentation of carbohydrates produced in
sugar or starch crops such as corn, sugarcane, sweet potatoes and etc. Also Ethanol can be used as an
alternative fuel for vehicles, moreover many studies states that it is more clean and sufficient than any
other fuels, because of its production and non-petroleum based properties that lessens the cause of
greenhouse effect and the amount of high octane additives. Also it has been realized that fossil energy
causes greenhouse gas emissions that have disadvantageous effects on our environment like burning of
petroleum-based fuels causes the increase of Carbon Dioxide level in the environment which is directly
responsible for global warming.
Philippines is rich in natural resources and bountiful in agricultural industry and agricultural
resources with its main agricultural crops like Rice, Corn, Sugarcane and Sweet potatoes that has a
potential to produce Bioethanol, especially sweet potatoes.
Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) is a dicotyledonous plant that belongs to the bindweed or
morning glory family that contains carbohydrates, sodium, potassium and sugar that can be a source of
Bioethanol. Also sweet potato is botanically very distinct from a genuine yam (Dioscorea), which is native to
Africa and Asia and belongs to the monocot family Dioscoreaceae. Moreover, Sweet potato has another
advantage, sweet potato does not require as much fertilizer or pesticide as corn and any other crops does.
With the rise and development of our modern technology there comes also the rise of the
production of our needs in order for the new inventions work, moreover we need to discover more
alternative solutions and best ways on handling our needs and possible shortages.
 It is from the above scenarios that we researchers has come up to study if how many sweet
potatoes that can produce up to 50 percent of sugar that becomes bioethanol and how it affects us as a
consumer.

Statement of the Problem

This research will be conducted to prove and to know how to extract Bioethanol on sweet
potatoes. The researcher also aims to answer the following questions:
 Is sweet potato produce more bioethanol than any other crops that has ethanol?
 How many percent of ethanol can be produced from Sweet Potatoes?

Hypothesis
This study focuses on how we could get ethanol from sweet potatoes and how many percent of
ethanol content does sweet potato can produce. The null hypothesis (Ho) states that sweet potatoes
ethanol content has no significant difference to any other crops that has ethanol content. The alternative
hypothesis (Ha) states that sweet potatoes ethanol content has a significant difference to any other crops
that has an ethanol content.

Significance of the study

With the present fuel production shortage many countries are facing, alternative source of
ethanol (Bioethanol) which can be found in many agricultural crops is more sufficient and efficient when
it comes in productivity and more reliable when it comes to its use and its properties that helps reduces
greenhouse gases and high octane additives than fuel, Moreover it is an alternative for fuel this research
study is timely because it deals with the processes of converting properties of sweet potato like sugar into
an ethanol (Bioethanol). If this study will be successful, crops that can produce Bioethanol like sweet
potatoes will ease in finding solutions and having alternative ways in having a substitute of fuel as there is
a possibility of experiencing Fuel Shortage. Also it will be safer and better way in how it affects our
ecosystem.

Scope and Delimitation

This study mainly focused on the production of ethanol (Bioethanol) as an alternative fuel
purposes by the process of milling, Liquefaction, distillation and adding some microorganisms like

Definition of terms
 Bioethanol –
 Sweet Potatoes –
 Fuel –
 Liquefaction –
 Milling –
 Distillation –