Cellulose and hemicellulose recovery from oil palm empty fruit bunch (EFB) fibers and production of sugars from the fibers

Suriya Palamae; Pongsathorn Dechatiwongse; Wanna Choorit; Yusuf Chisti; Poonsuk Prasertsan

doi:10.1016/j.carbpol.2016.09.004

Cellulose and hemicellulose recovery from oil palm empty fruit bunch (EFB) fibers and production of sugars from the fibers

Carbohydr Polym. 2017 Jan 2:155:491-497. doi: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2016.09.004. Epub 2016 Sep 4.

Authors

Suriya Palamae¹, Pongsathorn Dechatiwongse², Wanna Choorit³, Yusuf Chisti⁴, Poonsuk Prasertsan⁵

Affiliations

¹ Biotechnology Program, Agricultural Technology, Walailak University, Tasala, Nakhon Si Thammarat 80161, Thailand.
² Department of Chemical and Process Engineering, School of Engineering and Resources, Walailak University, Tasala, Nakhon Si Thammarat 80161, Thailand; Oil Palm Research Unit, Walailak University, Tasala, Nakhon Si Thammarat 80161, Thailand.
³ Biotechnology Program, Agricultural Technology, Walailak University, Tasala, Nakhon Si Thammarat 80161, Thailand; Oil Palm Research Unit, Walailak University, Tasala, Nakhon Si Thammarat 80161, Thailand. Electronic address: cwanna35@gmail.com.
⁴ School of Engineering, Massey University, Private Bag 11 222, Palmerston North, New Zealand.
⁵ Department of Industrial Biotechnology, Faculty of Agro-Industry, Prince of Songkla University, Songkhla 90112, Thailand.

PMID: 27702540
DOI: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2016.09.004

Abstract

A sequential two-step treatment with peracetic acid (PA) and alkaline peroxide (AP) at mild temperatures (20-35°C) removed more than 98% of the lignin from oil palm empty fruit bunch (EFB) fiber. For each kilogram of EFB fiber treated, 200-250g of a solids fraction and 120-170g of a precipitate fraction were recovered after the treatment. Subsequent enzymatic hydrolysis (45°C, 72h) of the recovered solids (excluding the precipitate) resulted in a glucose yield of 629.8±0.5g per kg of the original dry EFB biomass. Enzymatic hydrolysis of untreated EFB yielded only 3.0±0.0g glucose per kg of dry EFB. Therefore, the PA-AP pretreatment enhanced glucose recovery from EFB by nearly 210-fold. The total treatment time was 93h (a 9h PA treatment at 35°C, a 12h treatment with AP (20°C, 4% NaOH), 72h of enzymatic hydrolysis).

Keywords: Cellulose; Delignification; Enzymatic hydrolysis; Hemicellulose; Lignin; Oil palm empty fruit bunch.