Abstract
The palm press fiber, resulting from the extraction of oil from the fruit of the oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) is an abundant agro-industrial co-product with a potential for development of biorefineries. This study evaluated the use of the hemicellulose fraction contained in the palm press fiber as a source of sugars for the production of bioethanol by Scheffersomyces stipitis. The optimal condition for hemicellulose hydrolysis, determined by response surface methodology, utilized 30% of dry biomass in 5% H2SO4 at 121 °C for 60 min, and resulted in removal of 88.4% of this polysaccharide. The soluble fraction recovered after the acid pretreatment, called hemicellulosic hydrolyzate, contained 83 g L−1 of reducing sugars. The hydrolyzate also contained 12 g L−1 of acetic acid, 489 mg L−1 of furfural and 46 mg L−1 of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural. The detoxification of the hydrolyzate with activated charcoal, overliming and a combination thereof was evaluated for removal of unwanted byproducts. The best detoxification treatment reduced the concentrations of phenolic compounds and furfural present in the hemicellulosic hydrolyzate by 96% and 99%, respectively. S. stipitis NRRLY 7124 and S. stipitis CBS 6054 were tested for the fermentation of the hydrolyzate. The highest yield of ethanol, 0.33 gethanol gsugar −1, was obtained with the NRRLY 7124 strain in the fermentation of the hydrolyzate detoxified by overliming. An estimated production of 12.1 L of ethanol per ton of palm press fiber derived solely from the hemicellulosic fraction was achieved.
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