Tropical countries, such as Brazil and Colombia, have the possibility of using agricultural lands for growing
biomass to produce bio-fuels such as biodiesel and ethanol. This study applies an energy analysis to the
production process of anhydrous ethanol obtained from the hydrolysis of starch and cellulosic and hemicellulosic
material present in the banana fruit and its residual biomass. Four different production routes
were analyzed: acid hydrolysis of amylaceous material (banana pulp and banana fruit) and enzymatic
hydrolysis of lignocellulosic material (flower stalk and banana skin). The analysis considered banana plant
cultivation, feedstock transport, hydrolysis, fermentation, distillation, dehydration, residue treatment and
utility plant. The best indexes were obtained for amylaceous material for which mass performance varied
from 346.5 L/t to 388.7 L/t, Net Energy Value (NEV) ranged from 9.86 MJ/L to 9.94 MJ/L and the energy ratio
was 1.9 MJ/MJ. For lignocellulosic materials, the figures were less favorable; mass performance varied from
86.1 to 123.5 L/t, NEV from 5.24 to 8.79 MJ/L and energy ratio from 1.3 to 1.6 MJ/MJ. The analysis showed,
however, that both processes can be considered energetically feasible