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Conversion of oil palm empty fruit bunch into bioethanol through pretreatment with CO2 as impregnating agent in alkali explosion

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Abstract

Pretreatment is an important step in lignocellulosic bioethanol production which aims to reduce lignin content and break down lignocellulosic structure thereby increasing the accessibility of enzymes in hydrolysis. Therefore, this research explored the pretreatment process on oil palm empty fruit bunch (EFB) with CO2 impregnation followed by alkali explosion. EFB was impregnated with CO2 at 5 °C for 12 h. After impregnation, EFB was mixed with 2.5 M of NaOH solution (1:5 of S/L ratio) in an alkali explosion reactor. Alkali explosion was conducted at 150 °C, 4 kg/cm2 of pressure with the variation of reaction time for 15, 30, and 45 min. The parameters analyzed in this study include EFB recovery, EFB composition and characteristics, glucose yields, and ethanol yields. EFB composition was analyzed as cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin while the characteristics of the EFB were examined in functional groups. The results indicated that combined pretreatment using CO2 impregnation followed by 15 min of alkali explosion obtained higher delignification of EFB, glucose, and ethanol yield than only alkali explosion for 30 min. The highest glucose and ethanol yields were 99.33 and 83.80 w/w% of glucose mass in EFB, respectively. These results prove that CO2 can be used as an impregnation agent in lignocellulosic pretreatment and could be combined with alkali explosion.

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Funding

This work was supported by Research Center for Chemistry, National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Center for Chemistry, National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), KST BJ Habibie, Building No. 452, Serpong, South Tangerang, 15314, Indonesia

    Eka Triwahyuni, Muryanto Muryanto, Roni Maryana & Yanni Sudiyani

  2. Department of Agricultural Engineering, Brawijaya University, St. Veteran, Malang, 65145, Indonesia

    Apik Khautsart Miftah

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  1. Eka Triwahyuni
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  2. Apik Khautsart Miftah
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Contributions

ET is the main contributor who conceptualized the study and methodology, collected and analyzed the data, and wrote the original paper. Meanwhile, AKM conducted pretreatment experiments and data collection. MM and RM performed hydrolysis and fermentation processes and analyzed data. YS supervised the study and also the review and editing of the paper.

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Correspondence to Eka Triwahyuni.

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Statement of novelty

Indonesia as one of the largest oil palm producers in the world not only produces oil palm but also generates huge amounts of lignocellulosic biomass such as empty fruit bunch (EFB). This biomass can be converted into energy, for example, bioethanol. Pretreatment is an important stage in lignocellulosic bioethanol production. This study inquires about the application of CO2 as an impregnating agent in the alkali explosion of EFB for bioethanol production. This research reports for the first time that adding CO2 as an impregnating agent before alkali explosion could enhance the percentage of delignification, hydrolysis, and fermentation yield in bioethanol production from EFB. This report was assessed in terms of the percentage of EFB solid recovery after pretreatment, the percentage of the chemical composition of EFB, the characteristics of EFB, the yield of glucose, and ethanol yield after separate hydrolysis and fermentation (SHF).

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Triwahyuni, E., Miftah, A.K., Muryanto, M. et al. Conversion of oil palm empty fruit bunch into bioethanol through pretreatment with CO2 as impregnating agent in alkali explosion. Biomass Conv. Bioref. (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-023-04102-2

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