This study primarily focuses on the technical and financial aspects of using acid pretreatment in bioethanol production from corn stover. The corn stover was treated with 2% diluted sulfuric acid and inoculated with Fusarium oxysporum to enhance saccharification efficiency. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to examine the corn stover's shape and chemical composition. Additionally, glucose, xylose, and reducing sugars concentrations increased to 16.98 g/L, 15.62 g/L, and 33.12 g/L, respectively. The yeasts Kluveromyces marxianus and Saccharomyces cerevisiae were then employed to efficiently ferment the sugar hydrolysates into ethanol. Saccharification with F. oxysporum and co-fermentation with S. cerevisiae produced 0.40 g/g of ethanol, while co-fermentation of F. oxysporum and K. marxianus yielded 0.16 g/g. High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) analysis confirmed the presence of bioethanol in both samples, with retention times of 1.989 and 1.939 minutes, respectively, which were close to the standard ethanol retention time of 2.205 minutes. The results of this study demonstrate that acid-pretreated lignocellulosic agro-waste can be used as an economical and sustainable feedstock for the synthesis of bioethanol, with encouraging prospects for the energy and healthcare domains.
