The Baru (Dypterix alata Vog) belongs to the Leguminosae family; it is composed of mesocarp. endocarp. and almond. The mesocarp represents 5% of the whole fruit and consists of up to 38% starch and may be used for the ethanol production since this biofuel is produced by the conversion of starch. However. for such conversion. the starch should be hydrolyzed and thus converted to sugars. This hydrolysis may occur by acidic or enzymatic means. This work results from a study conducted on the acid hydrolysis of Baru mesocarp flour to evaluate the influence of acid in the hydrolysis process and bioethanol production. It was found that the reducing sugars content gradually increased with the increase of the acid concentration. The surface graph for the temperature of 121 °C showed that the optimal values for the hydrolysis of Baru mesocarp flour are 63.51 minutes and 4.07 of acid concentration.

Keywords: Starch. concentration. response surface