Optimizing Alkali Pretreatment of Oil Palm Empty Fruit Bunch for Ethanol Production by Application of Response Surface Methodology

Abstract

Oil palm empty fruit bunch (OPEFB) is a potential source of cellulose which can serve as a promising raw material for the production of ethanol. The increasing interest on use of lignocellulosic waste for bioconversion to fuels and chemicals are justifiable as these materials are low cost, renewable and widespread sources of sugars. The objective of the present study was to determine the effect of NaOH concentration, reaction temperature and reaction time for alkali pretreatment to increase the amount of cellulose for hydrolysis to achieve high glucose yield. Batch reactions were carried out under various reaction temperature, reaction time and NaOH concentration. Response Surface Methodology (RSM) was followed to optimize the alkali pretreatment in order to obtain high amount of cellulose (%). The optimum reaction temperature, reaction time and NaOH concentration were found to be 130 ˚c, 40 min and 15% (w/v), respectively. The maximum value of cellulose was obtained 68.8% by using the above condition. 19.96 g/L glucose was achieved when reaction was carried out at 130 ˚c for time period of 90 min when 6% (w/v) of H2SO4 concentration maintained.