Tropicalcountries,suchasBrazilandColombia,havethepossibilityofusingagriculturallandsforgrowing
biomasstoproducebio-fuelssuchasbiodieselandethanol.Thisstudyappliesanenergyanalysistothe
production processofanhydrousethanolobtainedfromthehydrolysisofstarchandcellulosicandhem-
icellulosicmaterialpresentinthebananafruitanditsresidualbiomass.Fourdifferentproductionroutes
wereanalyzed:acidhydrolysisofamylaceousmaterial(bananapulpandbananafruit)andenzymatic
hydrolysisoflignocellulosicmaterial(flowerstalkandbananaskin).Theanalysisconsideredbananaplant
cultivation,feedstocktransport,hydrolysis,fermentation,distillation,dehydration,residuetreatmentand
utility plant.Thebestindexeswereobtainedforamylaceousmaterialforwhichmassperformancevaried
from 346.5L/tto388.7L/t,NetEnergyValue(NEV)rangedfrom9.86MJ/Lto9.94MJ/Landtheenergyratio
was1.9MJ/MJ.Forlignocellulosicmaterials,the figures werelessfavorable;massperformancevariedfrom
86.1to123.5L/t,NEVfrom5.24to8.79MJ/Landenergyratiofrom1.3to1.6MJ/MJ.Theanalysisshowed,
however,thatbothprocessescanbeconsideredenergeticallyfeasible