In this study, dried seaweed (Gracilaria sp.), a red algae was used as feedstock for the production of bioethanol due to its high carbohydrate content (76.67 %). Dried seaweed is hydrolysed into reducing sugar by using dilute acid hydrolysis pre-treatment at optimized conditions (0.1 M sulphuric acid (H2SO4), 121 C, 30 minutes) and able to obtain 18.438 g/L of reducing sugar. This hydrolysate is converted into bioethanol by Saccharomyces cerevisiae via fermentation. Two significant factors, namely, fermentation temperature and medium pH were screened by performing One-Factor-At-A-Time (OFAT) analysis. The first factor manipulated was the fermentation temperature (40-50 C at pH 4.5), followed by medium pH (pH 4.0-5.0 at 45 C). Ethanol with concentration of 3.4202 g/L was successfully obtained from OFAT analysis under condition of 45 C and pH 4.5. The significant factors were then statistically optimized using Central Composite Design (CCD) in Response Surface Methodology (RSM). From the data analyzed from Design of Experiment (DoE), at its optimum fermentation conditions (44.83 C and pH 4.48), the maximal ethanol production obtained is 3.8395 g/L. A validation test with triplicate was performed to validate the actual with predicted value and result in 1.49% deviation is accepted.
