High-loading oil palm empty fruit bunch saccharification using cellulases from Trichoderma koningii MF6

Strain Trichoderma koningii D-64 was improved for enhanced cellulase production. A potential mutant MF6 was obtained and its enzymes contained filter paper cellulase (FPase), carboxymethylcellulase (CMCase), β-glucosidase and xylanase with respective activities of 2.0, 1.3, 2.0 and 3.0 folds of those for the parental strain. MF6 cellulases showed enhanced hydrolysis performance for the treated lignocellulosic biomass. Hydrolysis of treated oil palm empty fruit bunch (OPEFB), horticulture wastes (HW) and wood chips (WC) resulted in cellulose to glucose conversion of 96.3 ± 2.2%, 98.2 ± 3.0% and 81.9 ± 1.4%, respectively. The corresponding conversions of xylan to xylose were 96.9 ± 1.5%, 95.0 ± 2.2% and 76.1 ± 3.1%. Consistently, high sugar yield of 770–844 mg/g biomass was obtained for high-loading (10–16%, w/v) of OPEFB hydrolysis and sugar titer of 135.1 g/L was obtained for 16% (w/v) OPEFB loading at 96 h. In addition, MF6 enzymes alone performed equally well for high-loading OPEFB hydrolysis compared to the enzyme mixture of β-glucosidase from Aspergillus niger and cellulase from T. reesei Rut C30.     

Optimization studies on acid hydrolysis of oil palm empty fruit bunch fiber for production of xylose

Oil palm empty fruit bunch fiber is a lignocellulosic waste from palm oil mills. It is a potential source of xylose which can be used as a raw material for production of xylitol, a high value product. The increasing interest on use of lignocellulosic waste for bioconversion to fuels and chemicals is 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 H(2)SO(4) concentration, reaction temperature and reaction time for production of xylose. Batch reactions were carried out under various reaction temperature, reaction time and acid concentrations and Response Surface Methodology (RSM) was followed to optimize the hydrolysis process in order to obtain high xylose yield. The optimum reaction temperature, reaction time and acid concentration found were 119 degrees C, 60 min and 2%, respectively. Under these conditions xylose yield and selectivity were found to be 91.27% and 17.97 g/g, respectively.     

Production of humic acids from oil palm empty fruit bunch by submerged fermentation with Trichoderma viride: Cellulosic substrates and nitrogen sources

The novelty of this study was to produce humic acids by submerged fermentation of empty fruit bunch (EFB) with Trichoderma viride and to investigate the effects of the cellulosic substrates and the organic sources of nitrogen on the biotechnological production of these acids. The results obtained indicate the potential application of EFB, a waste of oil palm processing, for humic acids production. Because EFB contains cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin, fermentations were also performed using these polymers as carbon sources, separately or in combination. After 120 h of fermentation, significant production of humic acids was observed only in cultures containing either EFB or a mixture of the three polymers. Use of either potato peptone or yeast extract as a nitrogen source yielded nearly identical patterns of fungal growth and production of humic acids. The data obtained from microscopic imaging of T. viride growth and sporulation in EFB, coupled with the determined rates of production of humic acids indicated that the production of these acids is related to T. viride sporulation. © 2013 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 29:631–637, 2013     

Pretreatment of empty palm fruit bunch for production of chemicals via catalytic pyrolysis

The effect of chemical pretreatments using NaOH, H₂O₂, and Ca(OH)₂ on Empty Palm Fruit Bunches (EPFB) to degrade EPFB lignin before pyrolyis was investigated. Spectrophotometer analysis proved consecutive addition of NaOH and H₂O₂ decomposed almost 100% of EPFB lignin compared to 44% for the Ca(OH)₂, H₂O₂ system while NaOH and Ca(OH)₂ used exclusively could not alter lignin much. Next, the pretreated EPFB was catalytically pyrolyzed. Experimental results indicated the phenolic yields over Al-MCM-41 and HZSM-5 catalysts were 90 wt% and 80 wt%, respectively compared to 67 wt% yield for the untreated sample under the same set of conditions. Meanwhile, the experiments with HY zeolite yielded 70 wt% phenols.     

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

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.     

Bacterial community shift for monitoring the co-composting of oil palm empty fruit bunch and palm oil mill effluent anaerobic sludge

A recently developed rapid co-composting of oil palm empty fruit bunch (OPEFB) and palm oil mill effluent (POME) anaerobic sludge is beginning to attract attention from the palm oil industry in managing the disposal of these wastes. However, a deeper understanding of microbial diversity is required for the sustainable practice of the co-compositing process. In this study, an in-depth assessment of bacterial community succession at different stages of the pilot scale co-composting of OPEFB-POME anaerobic sludge was performed using 454-pyrosequencing, which was then correlated with the changes of physicochemical properties including temperature, oxygen level and moisture content. Approximately 58,122 of 16S rRNA gene amplicons with more than 500 operational taxonomy units (OTUs) were obtained. Alpha diversity and principal component analysis (PCoA) indicated that bacterial diversity and distributions were most influenced by the physicochemical properties of the co-composting stages, which showed remarkable shifts of dominant species throughout the process. Species related to Devosia yakushimensis and Desemzia incerta are shown to emerge as dominant bacteria in the thermophilic stage, while Planococcus rifietoensis correlated best with the later stage of co-composting. This study proved the bacterial community shifts in the co-composting stages corresponded with the changes of the physicochemical properties, and may, therefore, be useful in monitoring the progress of co-composting and compost maturity.     

Biosynthesis of xylobiose: a strategic way to enrich the value of oil palm empty fruit bunch fiber

Xylooligosaccharides are functional foods mainly produced during the hydrolysis of xylan by physical, chemical, or enzymatic methods. In this study, production of xylobiose was investigated using oil palm empty fruit bunch fiber (OPEFB) as a source material, by chemical and enzymatic methods. Xylanase-specific xylan hydrolysis followed by xylobiose production was observed. Among different xylanases, xylanase from FXY-1 released maximum xylobiose from pretreated OPEFB fiber, and this fungal strain was identified as Aspergillus terreus and subsequently deposited under the accession Number MTCC- 8661. The imperative role of lignin on xylooligosaccharides enzymatic synthesis was exemplified with the notice of xylobiose production only with delignified material. A maximum 262 mg of xylobiose was produced from 1.0 g of pretreated OPEFB fiber using FXY-1 xylanase (6,200 U/ml) at pH 6.0 and 45° C. At optimized environment, the yield of xylobiose was improved to 78.67 g/100 g (based on xylan in the pretreated OPEFB fiber).     

Kinetics of cellulase production by Chaetomium globosum at different levels of dissolved oxygen tension using oil palm empty fruit bunch fibre as substrate

The effect of different levels of dissolved oxygen tension (d.o.t) at a fixed agitation speed on the production of three major components of extracellular (free) cellulase (FPase, endoglucanase and -glucosidase) by Chaetomium globosum strain 414 was investigated. Oil palm empty fruit bunch (OPEFB) fibre (10g/l) and peptone (6g/l) were used as carbon and nitrogen sources for cellulase production, respectively. Growth of C. globosum and cellulase complex production were modelled using models based on logistic and Luedeking–Piret equations. The calculated data fitted well to the experimental data, indicating that the models were suitable for describing and verifying growth and cellulase complex production at different d.o.t levels. Cell growth and cellulase production were approximately two-fold higher in the stirred tank fermenter as compared with shake flask culture. At d.o.t of between 30–50% saturation, cell growth and cellulase production were higher than those under oxygen-limited conditions (5% saturation) and at high d.o.t (80% saturation). However, the highest activities of FPase (2.5U/ml), CMCase (59.5U/ml) and -glucosidase (12.8U/ml) were obtained at a d.o.t of 50% saturation and these gave the overall productivities of 20.8, 495 and 53.3U/l.h, respectively.     

Aqueous ammonia pretreatment of oil palm empty fruit bunches for ethanol production

Oil palm empty fruit bunches (EFB) were pretreated by aqueous ammonia soaking for ethanol production. Pretreated EFB, which were pretreated at the optimal conditions of 60 °C, 12 h, and 21% (w/w) aqueous ammonia, showed 19.5% and 41.4% glucose yields during an enzymatic digestibility test for 96 h when using 15 and 60 FPU of cellulase, respectively. Using the pretreated EFB, simultaneous saccharification and fermentation for 168 h with 5% (w/v) glucan loading and 60 FPU of cellulase and 30 CBU of β-glucosidase per gram glucan resulted in ethanol production of 18.6 g/L titer, 65.6% of theoretical maximum yield, and 0.11 g/L/h of productivity.     

Conversion of acid hydrolysate of oil palm empty fruit bunch to L-lactic acid by newly isolated Bacillus coagulans JI12

Cost-effective conversion of lignocellulose hydrolysate to optically pure lactic acid is commercially attractive but very challenging. Bacillus coagulans JI12 was isolated from natural environment and used to produce L-lactic acid (optical purity?>?99.5 %) from lignocellulose sugars and acid hydrolysate of oil palm empty fruit bunch (EFB) at 50 °C and pH 6.0 without sterilization of the medium. In fed-batch fermentation with 85 g/L initial xylose and 55 g/L xylose added after 7.5 h, 137.5 g/L lactic acid was produced with a yield of 98 % and a productivity of 4.4 g/L?h. In batch fermentation of a sugar mixture containing 8.5 % xylose, 1 % glucose, and 1 % L-arabinose, the lactic acid yield and productivity reached 98 % and 4.8 g/L?h, respectively. When EFB hydrolysate was used, 59.2 g/L of lactic acid was produced within 9.5 h at a yield of 97 % and a productivity of 6.2 g/L?h, which are the highest among those ever reported from lignocellulose hydrolysates. These results indicate that B. coagulans JI12 is a promising strain for industrial production of L-lactic acid from lignocellulose hydrolysate.     

Comparative studies of products obtained from solvolysis liquefaction of oil palm empty fruit bunch fibres using different solvents

Solvolysis of oil palm empty fruit bunches (EFB) fibres using different solvents (acetone, ethylene glycol (EG), ethanol, water and toluene) were carried out using an autoclave at 275°C for 60 min. The solvent efficiency in term of conversion yield was found to be: EG>water>ethanol>acetone>toluene. The liquid products and residue obtained were analyzed using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and gas chromatography/mass selectivity. The obtained results showed that the chemical properties of the oil product were significantly affected by the type of solvent used for the solvolysis process. The higher heating value (HHV) of oil products obtained using ethanol is ～29.42 MJ/kg, which is the highest among the oil products produced using different solvents. Water, ethanol and toluene yield major phenolic compounds. While EG favors the formation of alcohol compounds and acetone yields ketone and aldehyde compounds.     

Gasification of palm empty fruit bunch in a bubbling fluidized bed: a performance and agglomeration study

Gasification of palm empty fruit bunch (EFB) was investigated in a pilot-scale air-blown fluidized bed. The effect of bed temperature (650-1050 °C) on gasification performance was studied. To explore the potential of EFB, the gasification results were compared to that of sawdust. Results showed that maximum heating values (HHV) of 5.37 and 5.88 (MJ/Nm3), dry gas yield of 2.04 and 2.0 (Nm3/kg), carbon conversion of 93% and 85 % and cold gas efficiency of 72% and 71 % were obtained for EFB and sawdust at the temperature of 1050 °C and ER of 0.25. However, it was realized that agglomeration was the major issue in EFB gasification at high temperatures. To prevent the bed agglomeration, EFB gasification was performed at temperature of 770±20 °C while the ER was varied from 0.17 to 0.32. Maximum HHV of 4.53 was obtained at ER of 0.21 where no agglomeration was observed.     

Production of cellulase enzymes during the solid-state fermentation of empty palm fruit bunch fiber

Penicillium verruculosum COKE4E is a fungal strain isolated from bituminous coal. The microorganism cultivated in a minimal medium supplemented with Avicel, carboxymethylcellulose, and oat spelt xylan produced cellulase enzymes as exhibiting carboxymethylcellulase (CMCase), Avicelase, xylanase, and cellobiosidase activities. In this study, the productivity of the extracellular enzymes in the strain was evaluated by using empty palm fruit bunch fiber (EPFBF), a lignocellulosic biomass, as a substrate for solid-state bioconversion. The highest cellulase activities were observed after 6 days of fermentation at pH 6.0 and 30 °C. The enzymes were secreted as cellulosomes for the degradation of EPFBF as a sole carbon source. Focused ion beam analysis showed that P. verruculosum COKE4E produced cellulolytic enzymes that were able to effectively biodegrade EPFBF during solid-state fermentation. In this process, 6.5 U of CMCase, 6.8 U of Avicelase, and 8.8 U of xylanase per gram of dry solid EPFBF were produced. These results demonstrate that EPFBF may be a potential raw material in solid-state fermentation for the production of cellulase enzymes to be used for biofuel production.     

Biosynthesis of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) and characterisation of its blend with oil palm empty fruit bunch fibers

Poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-38 mol%-3-hydroxyvalerate) [P(3HB-co-38mol%-3HV)] was produced by Cupriavidus sp. USMAA2-4 in the presence of oleic acid and 1-pentanol. Due to enormous production of empty fruit bunch (EFB) in the oil palm plantation and high production cost of P(3HB-co-3HV), oil palm EFB fibers were used for biocomposites preparation. In this study, maleic anhydride (MA) and benzoyl peroxide (DBPO) were used to improve the miscibility between P(3HB-co-3HV) and EFB fibers. Introduction of MA into P(3HB-co-3HV) backbone reduced the molecular weight and improved the thermal stability of P(3HB-co-3HV). Thermal stability of P(3HB-co-3HV)/EFB composites was shown to be comparable to that of commercial packaging product. Composites with 35% EFB fibers content have the highest tensile strength compared to 30% and 40%. P(3HB-co-3HV)/EFB blends showed less chemicals leached compared to commercial packaging.     

Whole slurry fermentation of maleic acid-pretreated oil palm empty fruit bunches for ethanol production not necessitating a detoxification process

The yield of ethanol from oil palm empty fruit bunches (EFB) was increased on exploiting maleic acid pretreatment combined with fermentation of the pretreated whole slurry. The optimized conditions for pretreatment were to expose EFB to a high temperature (190 °C) with 1 % (w/v) maleic acid for a short time duration (3 min ramping to the set temperature with no holding) in a microwave digester. An enzymatic digestibility of 60.9 % (based on theoretical glucose yield) was exhibited using pretreated and washed EFB after 48 h of hydrolysis. Simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) of the whole slurry of pretreated EFB for 48 h resulted in 61.3 % theoretical yield of ethanol based on the initial amount of glucan in untreated EFB. These results indicate that maleic acid is a suitable catalyst not requiring detoxification steps for whole slurry fermentation of EFB for ethanol production, thus improving the process economics. Also, the whole slurry fermentation can significantly increase the biomass utilization by converting sugar from both solid and liquid phases of the pretreated slurry.     

TCF bleaching of soda-anthraquinone and diethanolamine pulp from oil palm empty fruit bunches

The AOpAZRP bleaching sequence (A is an acid treatment, Op an oxygen and peroxide stage, Z an ozone stage, R a reductive treatment and P a peroxide stage) have been applied to oil palm empty fruit bunches (EFB) soda-anthraquinone and diethanolamine pulp. On similar Kappa numbers for the two types of pulp (14.2 and 17.3), paper from unbleached soda-anthraquinone pulp exhibited increased tensile index (25.8 Nm/g), stretch (2.35%), burst index (1.69 kN/g), tear index (0.50 mN m(2)/g) and brightness (60.6%) relative to paper for unbleached diethanolamine pulp; but the latter type of pulp exhibited higher viscosity (659 mL/g) than the former. Upon bleaching with the AOpAZRP sequence, diethanolamine pulp exhibited higher viscosity (783 mL/g), and the properties of the paper sheets were close to or even better to those from soda-anthraquinone pulp, namely: 22.2 vs 20.4 Nm/g tensile index, 1.30 vs 1.42 kN/g burst index, 0.71 vs 0.70 mN m(2)/g tear index and 71.3% vs 77.5% brightness. Therefore, the properties of paper from diethanolamine pulp evolved more favourably during bleaching than did those of paper from soda-anthraquinone pulp.     

Improvement of production of citric acid from oil palm empty fruit bunches: Optimization of media by statistical experimental designs

A sequential optimization based on statistical design and one-factor-at-a-time (OFAT) method was employed to optimize the media constituents for the improvement of citric acid production from oil palm empty fruit bunches (EFB) through solid state bioconversion using Aspergillus niger IBO-103MNB. The results obtained from the Plackett–Burman design indicated that the co-substrate (sucrose), stimulator (methanol) and minerals (Zn, Cu, Mn and Mg) were found to be the major factors for further optimization. Based on the OFAT method, the selected medium constituents and inoculum concentration were optimized by the central composite design (CCD) under the response surface methodology (RSM). The statistical analysis showed that the optimum media containing 6.4% (w/w) of sucrose, 9% (v/w) of minerals and 15.5% (v/w) of inoculum gave the maximum production of citric acid (337.94 g/kg of dry EFB). The analysis showed that sucrose (p < 0.0011) and mineral solution (p < 0.0061) were more significant compared to inoculum concentration (p < 0.0127) for the citric acid production.     

Soda-anthraquinone pulping of palm oil empty fruit bunches and beating of the resulting pulp

The influence of soda-anthraquinone pulping variables (temperature, time and soda concentration) and beating (number of PFI beating revolution) of palm oil empty fruit bunches (EFB) on the resulting paper sheets was studied, with a view to identifying the optimum operating conditions. Equations were derived that reproduced the properties of the paper sheets with errors less than 10-12% in 90-95% of cases. An optimum compromise was found as regards operating conditions (15% soda, 170 degrees C, 70 min and 2400 number of PFI beating revolutions) that provided paper properties departing by less than 12% from their optimum values (59.63 Nm/g tensile index, 4.48% stretch, 4.17 kN/g burst index and 7.20 m Nm(2)/g tear index), and a beating grade of 47.5 degrees SR, acceptable to obtain paper sheets. Because these conditions involve a lower soda, temperature, time and beating than those required to maximize the studied paper properties, they can save chemical reagents, energy and immobilized capital for industrial facilities. On the other hand, the stretch properties of these pulp beaten are higher than those of others non-wood pulps, as wheat straw and olive wood.     

Use of high-boiling point organic solvents for pulping oil palm empty fruit bunches

Oil palm empty fruit bunches were used as an alternative raw material to obtain cellulosic pulp. Pulping was done by using high-boiling point organic solvents of decreased polluting power relative to classical (Kraft, sulphite) solvents but affording operation at similar pressure levels. The holocellulose, alpha-cellulose and lignin contents of oil palm empty fruit bunches (viz. 66.97%, 47.91% and 24.45%, respectively) are similar to those of some woody raw materials such as pine and eucalyptus, and various non-wood materials including olive tree prunings, wheat straw and sunflower stalks. Pulping tests were conducted by using ethyleneglycol, diethyleneglycol, ethanolamine and diethanolamine under two different sets of operating conditions, namely: (a) a 70% solvent concentration, 170 degrees C and 90 min; and (b) 80% solvent, 180 degrees C and 150 min. The solid/liquid ratio was six in both cases. The amine solvents were found to provide pulp with better properties than did the glycol solvents. Ethanolamine pulp exhibited the best viscosity and drainage index (viz. 636 mL/g and 17 degrees SR, respectively), and paper made from it the best breaking length (1709 m), stretch (1.95%), burst index (0.98 kN/g) and tear index (0.33 mNm(2)/g). Operating costs can be reduced by using milder conditions, which provide similar results. In any case, the amines are to be preferred to the glycols as solvents for this purpose.     

Development of integrated oil palm empty fruit bunches (EFB)-based dissolving pulp and furfural production: a consequential LCA approach

The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment - Dissolving pulp production is mostly reliant on wood, which drastically depletes forest resources. To prevent the over-exploitation, the efforts...