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An integrative process of bioconversion of oil palm empty fruit bunch fiber to ethanol with on-site cellulase production

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Abstract

The aim of this study was to efficiently convert oil palm empty fruit bunch fiber (OPEFB), one of the most commonly generated lingo-wastes in Southeast Asia, into both cellulase and bioethanol. The unprocessed cellulase crude (37.29 %) produced under solid-state fermentation using OPEFB as substrate showed a better reducing sugar yield using filter paper than the commercial enzyme blend (34.61 %). Organosolv pretreatment method could efficiently reduce hemicellulose (24.3–18.6 %) and lignin (35.2–22.1 %) content and increase cellulose content (40.5–59.3 %) from OPEFB. Enzymatic hydrolysis of pretreated OPEFB using the crude cellulase with 20 % solid content, enzyme loading of 15 FPU/g OPEFB at 50 °C, and pH 5.5 resulted in a OPEFB hydrolysate containing 36.01 g/L glucose after 72 h. Fermentation of the hydrolysate medium produced 17.64 g/L ethanol with 0.49 g/g yield from glucose and 0.088 g/g yield from OPEFB at 8 h using Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Science, Jining Medical University, Jining, 272067, China

    Youshuang Zhu, Ying Zhao & Yunkang Chang

  2. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, National University of Singapore, T-Lab 07-03 N, 5A Engineering Drive 1, Singapore, 117576, Singapore

    Fengxue Xin

Authors
  1. Youshuang Zhu
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  2. Fengxue Xin
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  3. Ying Zhao
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  4. Yunkang Chang
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Fengxue Xin.

Additional information

Y. Zhu and F. Xin contributed equally to this work.

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Zhu, Y., Xin, F., Zhao, Y. et al. An integrative process of bioconversion of oil palm empty fruit bunch fiber to ethanol with on-site cellulase production. Bioprocess Biosyst Eng 37, 2317–2324 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00449-014-1209-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00449-014-1209-2

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