The Universidad de La Sabana informs that the authors have authorized internal and external users to access the content of this document through the Online Catalog of the Library and the Institutional Repository on the Library's website, as well as through the country and international information networks with which the university has agreements. Users interested in the content of this document can access it for academic purposes, never for commercial use, provided that appropriate citation is given to the document and its author. According to Article 30 of Law 23 of 1982 and Article 11 of Decision Andina 351 of 1993, the Universidad de La Sabana informs that the rights to the documents belong to the authors and include moral rights as mentioned in the articles. This thesis presents a project for the degree of Chemical Engineer, supervised by Andrés Felipe López Vásquez, a Chemical Engineer. The research focuses on the photocatalytic pretreatment of Luffa Cylindrica to obtain cellulose-based alcohol. The study evaluates the effect of the photocatalytic pretreatment with ilmenita on the production of ethanol from Luffa Cylindrica. A Box-Behnken design was used to determine the optimal conditions of pH, UV irradiation time, and ilmenita quantity for obtaining reducing sugars after acid hydrolysis. A model with 95% reliability was obtained, achieving an optimal reducing sugar concentration of 1,211 mg/ml after 3 hours of UV irradiation, pH 7, and 0.1 grams of ilmenita. Fermentation with Saccharomyces Cerevisiae achieved a 5.78% yield relative to Luffa Cylindrica. The photocatalytic pretreatment was effective for the production of reducing sugars and ethanol. The study also evaluates the kinetics of ethanol production from the reducing sugars obtained through the photocatalytic pretreatment. The research highlights the potential of Luffa Cylindrica as a lignocellulosic material for ethanol production due to its high lignocellulosic content (around 90%), abundance, and low resource consumption. The study concludes that the photocatalytic pretreatment with ilmenita is an effective method for improving the efficiency of ethanol production from Luffa Cylindrica.The Universidad de La Sabana informs that the authors have authorized internal and external users to access the content of this document through the Online Catalog of the Library and the Institutional Repository on the Library's website, as well as through the country and international information networks with which the university has agreements. Users interested in the content of this document can access it for academic purposes, never for commercial use, provided that appropriate citation is given to the document and its author. According to Article 30 of Law 23 of 1982 and Article 11 of Decision Andina 351 of 1993, the Universidad de La Sabana informs that the rights to the documents belong to the authors and include moral rights as mentioned in the articles. This thesis presents a project for the degree of Chemical Engineer, supervised by Andrés Felipe López Vásquez, a Chemical Engineer. The research focuses on the photocatalytic pretreatment of Luffa Cylindrica to obtain cellulose-based alcohol. The study evaluates the effect of the photocatalytic pretreatment with ilmenita on the production of ethanol from Luffa Cylindrica. A Box-Behnken design was used to determine the optimal conditions of pH, UV irradiation time, and ilmenita quantity for obtaining reducing sugars after acid hydrolysis. A model with 95% reliability was obtained, achieving an optimal reducing sugar concentration of 1,211 mg/ml after 3 hours of UV irradiation, pH 7, and 0.1 grams of ilmenita. Fermentation with Saccharomyces Cerevisiae achieved a 5.78% yield relative to Luffa Cylindrica. The photocatalytic pretreatment was effective for the production of reducing sugars and ethanol. The study also evaluates the kinetics of ethanol production from the reducing sugars obtained through the photocatalytic pretreatment. The research highlights the potential of Luffa Cylindrica as a lignocellulosic material for ethanol production due to its high lignocellulosic content (around 90%), abundance, and low resource consumption. The study concludes that the photocatalytic pretreatment with ilmenita is an effective method for improving the efficiency of ethanol production from Luffa Cylindrica.