Fractionation of palm oil empty fruit bunch using deep eutectic solvent for lignin recovery and cellulose conversion to levulinic acid

The use of oil palm empty fruit bunch, an agricultural waste from oil palm plantations, as a feeding material for earthworms during composting provides an alternative source of nutrients for plants. Information regarding the ability of earthworms in processing phosphorus-enriched empty oil palm fruit bunch and their effects on plants is still lacking. The objective of this study was to compare the effects of phosphorus-enriched empty oil palm fruit bunches applied as fresh, composted or vermicomposted media in supplying nutrients on a test crop, Setaria splendida L., grass planted on Bungor (Typic Kandiudult) soil. The soil treated with phosphorus-enriched vermicomposted empty oil palm fruit bunch increased the grass dry matter yield significantly higher compared to that treated with composted empty oil palm fruit bunch and control. The root volume of vermicomposted- and composted- empty oil palm fruit bunches treated soil was similar but significantly greater than the control. There was significant interaction between dosage and type of growing media on cumulative N, P, K, Ca, and Mg uptake. However, these factors did not show significant influence on total N, P, Ca and Mg in the soil amended with composted oil palm empty fruit bunch at the end of the experiment. In general, phosphorus-enriched vermicomposted- and phosphorus-enriched composted- empty oil palm fruit bunches treated soil resulted in a greater positive effect on growth and nutrient uptake of S. splendida, and also on the total nutrient content in soil except for total K. Total soil K in the control treatment was 242.0 mg/kg and significantly higher compared to soil treated with composted- (173 mg/kg) and vermicomposted- empty oil palm fruit bunches (167 mg/kg). The vermicomposted empty oil palm fruit bunch resulted in better growth performance of the S. splendida in comparison to composted- and fresh- empty oil palm fruit bunches due to the readily available P and other nutrients being readily available to the plants.

National energy needs have been met by non-renewable energy resources, such as natural gas, petroleum, coal and so on. However, non-renewable energy reserves are depleting and there will be an energy crisis. Conversion of biomass into energy is one solution to overcome this. Indonesia, with its biodiversity, has enormous biomass potential, especially from oil palm plantations and also sugar cane plantations. From the oil palm plantation point of view, oil palm shells and oil palm empty fruit bunches are side products. These wastes can be treated with gasification technology to produce gas fuel. The gasification tool model used in this study is a downdraft gasifier equipped with a cyclone to separate gases with solids or liquids resulting from the gasification process. The results of the gasification process show that the more feeds are introduced, the more syngas is produced during the gasification process. The more feeds, the longer the syngas release time. The two variables have a correlation, that is, between the weight of syngas and the time for syngas removal to increase in line with the addition of the amount of feed entered. Syngas analysis of oil palm empty fruit bunches contains 4.959% H2 and 5.759% CO. Whereas the analysis of syngas of oil palm shells contained 2.524% H2, 6.391% CO, and 0.895% CH4.

Preparation of oil palm (Elaeis) empty fruit bunch activated carbon by microwave-assisted KOH activation for the adsorption of methylene blue

Oil palm empty fruit bunches (OPEFB) are by-products of the processing of oil palm mills. The addition of nitrogen-fixing microorganisms is carried out to improve nitrogen content in OPEFB compost and it can be used as a growing medium to increase the quality of vegetable crops. The aim of this study is to analyse the potential of empty fruit bunch composts enriched with Azotobacter for improving pak choi (Brassica rapa v. chinensis) growth. The process involved the conversion of OPEFB by fortifying it with Azotobacter into value-added composts. Temperature, pH, conductivity, and nutrient characteristics of composts were analyzed during the composting process. The Completely Randomized Design was conducted to observe the potential of Azotobacter-fortified composts on pak choi growth. The growing media made in seven combinations, namely: F0: 100% soil (control); T1P1: 30% OPEFB composts + 70% soil; T1P2: 50% OPEFB composts + 50% soil; T1P3: 70% OPEFB composts + 30% soil; T2P1: 28% OPEFB composts + 2% Azotobacter sp. + 70% soil; T2P2: 48% OPEFB composts + 2% Azotobacter sp. + 50% soil; T2P3: 68% OPEFB composts + 2% Azotobacter sp. + 30% soil. The research revealed that the highest pH and conductivity values are 8.46 and 1.16 mS.cm-1, which occurred in Azotobacter assisted OPEFB composting. In the application of the compost as the growing media for pak choi, the morphological parameter showed significant effects. The Azotobacer assisted compost promoted significant increase in plant height (23,7 cm), root dry weight (2,84 g), shoot dry weight (2,39 g), root length (28,56 cm), leaf area (73,37 cm2), and number of stomata (36,70 cm-1).

In this study, we evaluated the effect of steam explosion of oil palm frond (OPF) and oil palm empty fruit bunch (EFB) on nutrient composition and ruminal fermentation characteristics in vitro. The results showed that steam explosion decreased NDF (P < 0.01), ADF (P < 0.01), and hemicellulose content (P < 0.01) in OPF and EFB. Steam explosion improved the effective energy value of OPF and EFB. In vitro fermentation results revealed that 72-h gas production capacity of OPF and EFB increased by 12.60and 85.06% (P < 0.01), respectively, after steam explosion. Steam explosion had a tendency to improve the concentration of total volatile fatty acids (TVFA) (P = 0.082). In conclusion, steam explosion of OPF and EFB reduced NDF, ADF, and hemicellulose content and increased gas production and TVFA concentration.

Oil palm empty fruit bunches (OPEFB) is one of the major biomass wastes produced from palm oil extraction process. Due to high cellulose content in OPEFB, the cellulose fibers in OPEFB can be extracted and utilized in versatile applications as a sustainable process technology development. Among multiple pre-treatment processes, chemical pre-treatment is most efficient for the removal of hemicellulose and lignin in extracting high purity cellulose from lignocellulosic biomass. With the undisputed importance of green technology for the progress of our society, it is vital to engage and leverage on green technology in chemical pre-treatment method for extracting cellulose from OPEFB. The objective of this study is to explore a green extraction method for cellulose from OPEFB using low concentration and eco-friendly chemicals. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and field emission scanning electron microscope was used to detect the functional groups and to observe the surface morphology of OPEFB, de-waxed OPEFB fibers, delignified OPEFB fibers, acid hydrolyzed OPEFB fibers, and OPEFB extracted cellulose fibers at different stages in confirming the removal of wax, lignin, and hemicellulose from OPEFB extracted cellulose at the end of the extraction process. Crystallinity index increased from 28% for OPEFB to 72% for the OPEFB extracted cellulose, affirms the degradation of OPEFB’s amorphous structure and transforms into higher crystallinity structure. This work has successfully developed a green extraction method for OPEFB cellulose fibers as part of sustainable process technology which would promote the utilization of lignocellulosic agricultural waste from palm oil industry in various applications.

Indonesia as the global largest oil palm producer generates tremendous solid wastes such as oil palm trunks, fronds, and empty fruit bunch (EFB). Lignocellulose could be a good feedstock candidate for biorefinery application. Lactic acid is one of the major biorefinery products applied in chemical industries, food, cosmetics, pharmaceutical, and others. One of the most rising applications of lactic acid is its usage in poly-lactic acid (PLA) production by lactic acid polymerization. Therefore, this research aims to explore lactic acid production from EFB with cellulolytic enzymes and Lactobacillus delbrueckii as lactic acid bacteria thru separate hydrolysis and fermentation (SHF) methods. EFB treated with alkali explosion was used for this study. The hydrolysis process was conducted at pH 4.8, 50°C, and 150 rpm of agitation for 72 h with 30 FPU/g substrates of cellulolytic enzymes. Subsequently, hydrolyzate was fermented by Lactobacillus delbrueckii to produce lactic acid. Variation of pH (5.5, 6.0, 6.5, and 7.0) and temperatures (55 and 60°C) during fermentation were carried out in this study in order to optimize lactic acid production. The highest lactic acid concentration was produced at pH 5.5. The lactic acid production by Lactobacillus delbrueckii at 55 and 60°C reached 2.3 g/l and 0.9 g/l, respectively. This result indicated that lignocellulosic biomass could be used as non-food feedstock in lactic acid production.

Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) holds a very strategic role in the Indonesia economy. Plants that have reached the economical age of 25 years need to be replanted using qualified oil palm seedling. The qualified seedling is obtained through proper fertilization. The combination of NPK fertilizer and organic material of oil palm empty fruit bunches (OPEFB) which has been given a cellulolytic bacterial consortium can provide sufficient nutrients for the growth of oil palm seedlings. The study aimed to determine the effect of giving a combination of OPEFB organic material, cellulolytic bacterial consortium, and NPK fertilizer on the growth of oil palm seedling (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) at main nursery. This experiment used a single factor experiment arranged in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD). The treatments were a 100% NPK, a OPEFB compost, a 50% NPK + OPEFB compost, a 50% NPK + OPEFB + Cellulolytic bacterial consortium, and a OPEFB + cellulolytic bacterial consortium. The results showed that the application of inorganic fertilizers combined with organic fertilizers (a OPEFB compost and a OPEFB + cellulolytic bacterial consortium) had a good effect on each parameter. Giving organic fertilizer without inorganic fertilizer had not affected plant growth on all parameters. Application of a OPEFB compost and a OPEFB + cellulolytic bacterial consortium can reduce the use of inorganic fertilizers by 50%.

Development and material properties of new hybrid plywood from oil palm biomass

One of the most underutilized biomasses wastes in Malaysia is oil palm empty fruit bunch (EFB). Lignin presented in EFB was found to contain the highest energy content compared to hemicellulose and cellulose. Therefore, EFB can be the sources of lignin extraction to generate profit for the oil palm industry. Deep eutectic solvent (DES) has emerged as a new green solvent in biomass fractionation field as it has impressive delignification efficiency and low toxicity. Many researchers had delignified biomass using DES with conventional oil bath heating. The conventional method for delignification is energy-intensive and involving long pre-treatment time. Hence, this study aims to achieve effective extraction yield while reducing energy usage to extract lignin from oil palm empty fruit bunch (EFB) using DES with aid of microwave heating (MAE) and ultrasonic irradiation (UAE). The feasible extraction scheme was used to investigate parameters include water content in DES, irradiation duration, and heating method power. The crucial parameters affecting MAE pre-treatment was found to be microwave power and duration. As for UAE pre-treatment, ultrasonic amplitude and water content in DES plays a significant role on delignifying EFB using DES. In addition, the models developed for both pre-treatments are identified to be significant and thus the optimized pre-treatment conditions can be obtained. This finding is anticipated to generate an effective DES pre-treatment with integration of assistive heating techniques. From regression analysis, the optimized condition for UAE pre-treatment is at 75% amplitude for 8 min 38s, resulting in an 13.20% of lignin removal from EFB. As for the MAE pre-treatment, 56.30% of delignification efficiency was achieved using optimized condition at 300 W for 2 min 42 sec.

The utilization of non-wood biomass for fuels and chemicals production is widely studied in recent years. This paper reported the application of trichloroacetate as catalyst in the production of cellulose acetate from paddy (Oriza sativa) rice straw and oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) empty fruit bunch (EFB). Firstly, pre-treatment by using H2O in acidic condition was carried out prior to the soda pulping by using NaOH 10%, solid to liquid ratio 1:7. The pre-treatment and pulping aim to separate cellulose from lignin and hemicellulose. Furthermore, in order to purify the cellulose, bleaching was applied to the pulps by using NaClO2 0.5% and H2O2 10%. Finally, the paddy rice straw pulp and oil palm EFB pulp were subjected to the acetylation by using acetic anhydride as acetylating agent in CH3COOH condition with catalyst CCl3COOH and H2SO4. The analysis results by using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy showed that C=O stretching from cellulose acetate at around 1730 cm−1. Furthermore, the morphological surface and crystallinity of the raw materials and products was analysed by using scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction, respectively. The acetylated cellulose diameter and cristallinity decreased after the acetylation reaction.

In this paper, the performance of microstrip patch antenna that is made of fully biodegradable materials has been studied. The polymer resins of Polyurethane as a binder agent were produced using polyol extracted from palm oil while the host composites were made from oil palm empty fruit bunch fiber. The performance of Polyurethane – Oil Palm (PolyOP) Empty Fruit Bunch composite as a microwave dielectric substrate was tested by fabricating microstrip patch antenna on it. The performance of fabricated patch antenna was measured using Vector Network Analyzer (VNA) and is compared with simulation results obtained from High Frequency Structure Simulator (HFSS) simulator. The difference of percentage in resonant frequency, return loss, bandwidth and VSWR between simulation and measurement were found to be 0.4%, 75.2%, 67.9%, and 12.7%, respectively.

Utilization of oil palm empty fruit bunches (OPEFB) is limited due to its low nutrient value but high lignocellulose content. Black soldier fly larvae (BSFL, Hermetia illucens L.) is capable of converting organic materials into high-value products. A co-digestion strategy combining low-nutrition OPEFB and other high-nutrient oil palm by-products, i.e., oil palm kernel meal (OPKM), is an approach to enhance the digestibility of oil palm biomass by BSFL. However, the information on the degradation of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin in OPKM, OPEFB, and their co-digested substrates after treatment with BSFL is scarce. Therefore, this experiment evaluated the growth and bioconversion potential of BSFL grown on OPKM, OPEFB, and their mixture. Three feed treatments of 100% OPEFB, 100% OPKM, and a mixture (50% OPEFB: 50% OPKM) were given to larvae to observe growth, bioconversion potential of BSFL, and substrate degradation. In addition, the changes of the substrates morphology were analyzed by scanning electron microscope (SEM). The results show that an increase of larval biomass weight by 634% was obtained in a substrates combination of OPEFB and OPKM, with a reduction in the feed conversion ratio to 84% in twenty-five days, as compared to a 100% OPEFB feed. SEM results indicate that the surface of OPKM and OPEFB altered significantly after being consumed by BSFL. Ultimately, the current findings confirmed the potential of BSFL as bioconversion agent in the utilization of low-nutrition organic materials with high lignocellulosic content, such as OPEFB by using co-digestion method. This finding is promising to be implemented for treatment and utilization of palm oil mills by-products.

Residual lignin present in alkali pulps prepared from oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) empty fruit bunch was isolated using an enzymatic method and characterized successfully by pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS). These pulps were prepared by soda-anthraquinone (AQ) and prehydrolysis (PH) soda-AQ cooking methods (pulp yields were 45.3 and 33.9%, respectively). Py-GC/MS of the residual lignin showed that two pyrolysis products which were indole and methylindole originating from the enzyme (contents 12 to 44%), in addition to eight pyrolysis products originating from syringyl (S) and guaiacyl (G) structure of lignin. Furthermore, palmitic acid was also detected in the residual lignin (contents 0.11 to 0.28%). The residual lignin was subjected to further purification by a cellobiose treatment method, and the quantity of enzyme present in the residual lignin was found to decrease after the treatment. Residual lignin in PH-soda-AQ pulp exhibited a higher S/G ratio (0.86 to 0.98) than that in soda-AQ pulp (0.76 to 0.97). This study showed that the contents of lignin (19 to 44%) and enzyme in enzymatically isolated lignin can be estimated by the Py-GC/MS method.

Railway brake block is one of the most important components of the braking system of a railway vehicle. Materials for railway brake blocks are commonly made from metal or composite. The metallic brake blocks have some disadvantages that are heavy, low wear-resistant and has potential in generating a spark. While the composite brake blocks do not have those disadvantages. Natural fiber from oil palm empty fruit bunches as the waste from the production of palm oil can be used as a composite constituent. This composite brake blocks made from oil palm empty fruit bunches as reinforcement, phenol resin as matrix, and alumina, magnesium oxide and iron powder as a friction modifier. Density, hardness, coefficient of friction, compressive strength and flexural strength tests were carried out to determine the mechanical characteristic of the composite railway brake block material. The railway brake block test results consist of the density of 1.96 g/cm3, the hardness of 57.6 HRB, coefficient of friction of 0.43, the compressive strength of 37.1 MPa, and flexural strength of 33 MPa. There are three samples of volume fraction combination with 20% of oil palm empty fruit bunch in sample 1, 15% oil palm empty fruit bunch in sample 2 and 10% oil palm empty fruit bunch in sample 3. Percentage of MgO is adjusted to compensate the volume fraction of oil palm empty fruit bunch in the sample. Sample test results show that composite with volume fraction 10% of oil palm empty fruit bunch, phenolic resin of 30%, Al2O3 of 25%, MgO of 20%, iron powder of 15% has better mechanical properties for the alternative composite railway brake block material as compared to the other two.