The purpose of this research was to streamline and optimize for high school laboratory settings the production of bioethanol from raw compost of unknown content, as would be found in the compost systems of an average home or school. This experiment utilized the methods seen in the ethanol-production industry, scaled down for the sake of price, efficiency, and accessiblilty of materials. To begin the process, fungus was grown on agar plates and suspended and lysed with common dish detergent to obtain enzymes to hydrolyze the cellulose in the compost to its component monosaccharides. The collected compost was first broken down mechanically with simple kitchen equipment, then exposed to heat, acidity, and later the fungal enzymes to catabolize the polysaccharides into useful monosaccharides. Finally, the resulting glucose broth was exposed to common brewer's yeast in a semi-aerobic environment, fermenting the ethanol that was then distilled from the suspension. The fungal cell suspension lysis, using liquid detergent, was successful; cellular debris and endocellular macromolecule clumps could be seen under medium magnification. The resulting enzymes had comparable depolymerization capabilities to lab-grade

cellulase when qualified using a Benedict's reagent test. When the brewer's yeast was added, there was a 0.7% ethanol yield-per-gram of compost used initially. From these results, it can be concluded that bioethanol can be feasibly produced in a high school laboratory setting or household at a price-per-kilogram of compost processed less than that of industry, using standard, accessible laboratory materials and in less than a week of time for the procedure's entirety.