Process of pretreatment and hydrolysis of lignocellulose from palm empty fruit bunch for xylose and glucose production

Abstract

Oil palm empty fruit bunch is an interesting lignocellulose feedstock for sugar production. However, lignin prohibits chemicals from accessing the hemicellulose and cellulose, which is the source of sugar. Therefore, the overall process requires pretreatment to remove lignin and hydrolysis to convert hemicellulose and cellulose to sugar. In this research, the aim is to design a process model of sugar production using different pretreatment chemicals, including alkaline (NaOH) and acid (H2SO4), and compare the other necessary following process. Moreover, capital investment is also estimated. According to the results, different pretreatment chemicals results in a different change of lignocellulose structure and component distribution. In alkaline case, both hemicellulose and cellulose can be separated from lignin. When entering the next process, two-stage hydrolysis is chosen. Xylose and glucose are produced separately with a concentration of 50.25% and 76.04%, respectively. According to the highly complex process, the investment cost is high. However, it appear a higher profit. So, this process is suitable for investments with high capital and high profit margins. Moreover, it can accommodate the risk of xylose price fluctuations. In terms of acid case, hemicellulose is well separated but cellulose can not be isolated. One-stage hydrolysis is used. The produced sugar is xylose, which has a concentration of 50.32%. Because of the less complicated process, investment costs are reduced. Unfortunately, profits are also low. Thus, this process is suitable for investments with low capital and required only xylose products.