Oil palm empty fruit bunches a promising substrate for succinic acid production via simultaneous saccharification and fermentation

Abstract

Oil palm empty fruit bunch (EFB), a plentiful agricultural waste in Malaysia was evaluated for the production of succinic acid (SA) via simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) using A. succinogenes ATCC 55618. In the current study, EFB was pretreated using 2 different pretreatment methods; autoclave alkali (AA) and sequential dilute acid microwave alkali (DA-MWA). The pretreated EFBs were hydrolyzed enzymatically and they were also used as a substrate for SA production. During enzymatic hydrolysis different ratios of cellulase and cellobiase were used. Results revealed the best yield of glucose accumulation (31.4 g L-1) was obtained when the ratio of cellulase and cellobiase was kept to 7:1. Subsequent findings also showed maximum concentration, (33.4 g L−1), yield (30.47 g g−1substrate) and productivity 0.69 g L−1 h−1 of SA was achieved when using sequential DA-MWA pretreated EFB sample. The results suggested that agriculture waste EFB has the potential to be an alternative substrate for efficient and economic SA production.