Abstract

Lactic Acid as a platform chemical has broad application in various industries, especially in the production of Poly Lactic Acid (PLA) for biodegradable plastic. Empty fruit bunch (EFB), abundant by product from palm oil mill industry, is one of potential feedstock to be used in the production of lactic acid from lignocellulose biomass. EFB contains high cellulose and hemicellulose about 37– 59.7% w/w and 16–28% w/w, respectively. The aim of this paper is to study the effects of the operating conditions, such as temperature, reaction time, biomass loading, and catalyst concentration on the yield of lactic acid using barium hydroxide as alkaline catalyst. EFB pretreatment with steam explosion was applied to remove lignin content. The results showed that pretreatment reduced the lignin content from 22.66% to 9.69% w/w. Meanwhile, hemicellulose and cellulose increased from 14.40% to 16.40% w/w and 29.37% to 63.57% w/w, respectively. The highest yield of lactic acid was 21.57% C-mol, achieved by using 0.25 M Ba(OH)2 as the catalyst, with 5% w/v biomass loading, temperature 240°C, during 4 h reaction times. The yield was approximately equal to yield of lactic acid (~ 20%) compared with Pb2+ as the catalyst for EFB conversion although the later catalyst produced fewer by products during conversion.

Highlights

  • Palm oil is one of the plantation crops, the source of non-oil foreign exchange for Indonesia

  • Lignocellulose is a major part of the plant cell wall, which consists of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin, and comprise a small amount of pectin, protein, extractive, and ash

  • Hemicellulose and lignin content in empty fruit bunch (EFB) are about 3759.7%, 16-28%, and 10-32% [2]–[5]

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Summary

Introduction

Palm oil is one of the plantation crops, the source of non-oil foreign exchange for Indonesia. About 20 percent of oil palm empty fruit bunch (EFB) is produced from the processing of fresh fruit bunch [1]. The oil palm empty fruit bunch is one of lignocellulosic raw material. Lignocellulose is a major part of the plant cell wall, which consists of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin, and comprise a small amount of pectin, protein, extractive, and ash. Hemicellulose and lignin content in EFB are about 3759.7%, 16-28%, and 10-32% [2]–[5]. Limited utilization of EFB for fertilizer on oil palm plantation areas has forced many researchers to use EFB as raw material for various applications, one of which is lactic acid, the raw material for the production of Poly Lactic Acid (PLA)

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