Abstract
This study examined the effect of dilute acid pretreatment on the physical and chemical structure of melon seed husk (MSH). A batch experiment was conducted with sulphuric acid(H2SO4) and hydrochloric acid (HCl) at a temperature(90 °C), time (1 h) and 3.5 M acid concentration/20 g dry biomass. The raw and the acid pre-treated samples were characterized using proximate analysis, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and Scanning Electron Micrograph (SEM) analytical methods to determine the varied effect of the pretreatments on the MSH. The findings from the proximate analysis revealed that the cellulose, hemicellulose, ash and lignin content decreased significantly due to the acid pretreatment on the structure of MSH. However, H2SO4 greatly affected the MSH more than HCl during pretreatment. The FT-IR, XRF and SEM indicated that MSH was suitably pretreated with acid. These findings show that acid treatment is an acceptable approach to the demineralization of biomass. However, it has little or no effect on its chemical structure and for effective hydrolysis of MSH to produce fermentable sugars.
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