Indonesia Conference Directory

Water hyacinth is a water weed that causes an imbalance of the ecosystem so it needs to be processed into a useful product. This research was conducted to convert water hyacinth as lignocellulose-containing biomass by utilizing Aspergillus fumigatus fungi as a biocatalyst. This study began with cultivation of Aspergillus fumigatus in Potato Dextrose Broth media and preparation of water hyacinth to 100 mesh in size. Pretreatment is done by using a variation of the ratio of fungi to biomass at 1: 1, 1: 5, and 1:10 and contact times 1, 3, and 5 days. Determination of lignin as a result of pretreatment was carried out by the Chesson method. The hydrolysis stage takes place after the pretreatment stage to get fermentable sugar. The sugar content is analyzed using the DNS method. In this study, it was found that the best reduction in lignin levels after pretreatment was 38.6% and produced sugar of 12.5 g/L. A fermentation process and further research is needed to determine the potential of water hyacinth as a raw material in the production of bioethanol.