Oil palm frond juice as future fermentation substrate: a feasibility study.

Mohd Ali Hassan,Umi Kalsom Md Shah,Yoshihito Shirai,Che Mohd Hakiman Che Maail,Hidayah Ariffin

doi:10.1155/2014/465270

Mohd Ali Hassan, Umi Kalsom Md Shah + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1155/2014/465270

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Abstract

Oil palm frond (OPF) juice is a potential industrial fermentation substrate as it has high sugars content and the OPF are readily available daily. However, maximum sugars yield and storage stability of the OPF juice are yet to be determined. This study was conducted to determine the effect of physical pretreatment and storage duration of OPF petiole on sugars yield. Storage stability of OPF juice at different storing conditions was also investigated. It was found that OPF petiole squeezed by hydraulic pressing machine gave the highest sugars recovery at almost 40 g/kg, accounting for a recovery yield of 88%. Storage of OPF petiole up to 72 hrs prior to squeezing reduced the free sugars by 11 g/kg. Concentrated OPF juice with 95% water removal had the best storage stability at both 4 and 30°C, when it was stored for 10 days. Moreover, concentrated OPF syrup prepared by thermal processing did not give any Maillard effect on microbial growth. Based on our results, OPF juice meets all the criteria as a good fermentation substrate as it is renewable, consistently available, and easy to be obtained, it does not inhibit microbial growth and product formation, and it contains no impurities.

Highlights

Starch, lignocellulose, and molasses are some of the popular considerations for fermentation substrates over the past decades
It was found that potential free sugar content in oil palm frond (OPF) petiole was 44.8 g/kg
Other microorganisms tested in this study showed positive growth showing that the pH of OPF juice pH of OPF juice

Summary

Introduction

Lignocellulose, and molasses are some of the popular considerations for fermentation substrates over the past decades. Lignocellulosic feedstock on the other hand has shortcoming in terms of harvesting, collecting, and delivering though it was rendered as nonfood substrates [1]. Lignocelluloses such as corn stover, rice straw, sugarcane bagasse, and oil palm biomass are produced from agricultural activities and regarded as low value products. Molasses feedstock is found to be tangled between the food crisis and high value products manufacturing It is considered as byproduct of sugar refining derived from sugarcane, sugar beet, and grapes and used for animal feed in certain countries such as USA, Japan, the Netherlands, and UK [2]. With all the issues related to food scarcity and animal feed, these substrates open many challenges for the fermentation industry and have unwrapped another possibility for another undeveloped feedstock substrate such as oil palm frond (OPF) juice

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