Enzymatic pretreatment of palm oil empty fruit bunch

Abstract

Fibers from Palm Oil Empty Fruit Bunch (OPEFB) are high in cellulose, lignin, hemicelluloses, small wax depositions, and inorganic components. Intractable lignin in lignocellulosic biomass (LCB) is a main hindrance to cellulose extraction. As a result, it must be removed from LCB before production of value-added products such as cellulose nano crystal (CNC), fermentable sugar, and biofuels. When compared to chemical and physical methods, enzyme-mediated lignin breakdown is considered a “green” technique since it does not create any harmful intermediates. An attempt was taken to reduce (delignify) lignin from OPEFB through laccase enzyme pretreatment process without usage any hazardous chemicals like alkali, bleaching agents. After 12 h incubation period at 50 °C, laccase's delignification potential from OPEFB was 66.5 %. According to the findings, the laccase was successful at breaking down lignin and has the potential to enhance the quantity of cellulose in lignocellulosic biomass as OPEFB in a sustainable and environmental favorable way. The morphological results from Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) image, functional group from Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) results and crystalline nature of X-ray Diffraction (XRD) graph was proved the reduction of lignin from raw OPEFB after enzymatic pretreatment. In the future, this approach would be used to extract additional types of cellulose from other lignocellulosic waste biomass which is environmentally friendly and sustainable to obtain value-added products.