Production of Bioethanol from oil palm empty fruit bunch

Abstract

Severalmethods have been identified to produce bioethanol. Bioethanol can be synthesized from cellulose and hemicelluloses that originate from the many sources of biomass. Current studies focused on the production of bioethanol from oil palm waste using saccaromyes cerevisie as fermentation agent. The main objective of this study was to determine the yield of bioethanol produced from oil palm empty fruit bunch (EFB), a biomass waste. The studies also extended to cover the effects of glucose and saccaromyes cerevisie concentration towards the yield of bioethanol. The bioethanol in this experimental work as synthesized from two-stage production method; in the first stafe, the sodium hydroxide-pretreated sample was hydrolyzed with sulfuric acid. Then, the EFB was hydrolyzed with different set of acid concentration. In the second stage ensued, fermentation with saccaromyces cerevisae was carried out in anaerobic condition. Different concentration of yeast was employed in this stage. The results demonstrated that the inoculums concentration did not show significant effect on the final ethanol concentration. Nonetheless, the duration of fermentation decreased with the increase of the yeast concentration. Results obtained also indicated that, as the concentration of glucose increased, the ethanol concentration also increased. Highest ethanol yield obtained in this work with a concentration of 15 mg/ml of glucose was 13.8% (w/w).