Potential Of Empty Fruit Bunch Research Articles

Investigation of the Potential of Empty Fruit Bunch (EFB) and Pressmud for the Removal of Heavy Metals from Wastewater

Improper management of organic industrial wastes, such as empty fruit bunch (EFB) from the palm oil industry and pressmud, i.e., a by-product of the sugar refinery industry can lead to environmental problems. This study aims to investigate the potential of pressmud and EFB as adsorbent materials in wastewater pollution removal. The chemical analysis in this study revealed that the EFB sample contained 7.30% of SiO2, 2.11% of Fe2O3, 1.91% of MgO, 28.02% of CaO, 37.59% of K2O, 1.45% of P2O5, 14.51% of Cl, 4.39% of SO3, and 2.38% of other elements. Meanwhile, the pressmud sample contained 14.32% of SiO2, 1.39% of SO3, 81.71% of CaO, 1.03% of Fe2O3, and the remaining 1.56% of other compounds. The possible adsorption capacities of pressmud and EFB were determined using the Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms. The absorption of Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, and Zn in these samples was analyzed using the Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models. By comparing both models, the research revealed that the Langmuir model provided a more precise description of the adsorption process for the EFB and pressmud samples and was competently compared to the Freundlich model, as indicated by the highest R2 values. The results indicate the potential of EFB and pressmud as promising reactive materials for heavy metal adsorption, and this involves recognizing possibilities for repurposing these economical and sustainable waste materials.

Upgrading Characteristics of Empty Fruit Bunch Biopellet with Addition of Bintaro Fruit as Co-firing

The low density of mass and energy are the main reason for the underutilization of great potential of Empty Fruit Bunch (EFB) as a raw material of alternative and renewable fuels. The using of bintaro fruit as co-firing and treatment of torrefaction – densification processes were believed to increase the density of mass and energy of the EFB biopellet. This study aims to determine the effect of residence time, compaction pressure, and addition of bintaro fruit to the characteristics of EFB biopellet according to ISO 17225-6 standards. Biopellet manufacture was carried out two processes sequence, namely the torrefaction process and the densification process. The torrefaction process was carried out at 275oC with residence time variations 30, 45, and 60 minutes. The densification process was carried out without binder with compaction pressure variations 30, 40, and 50 bar. The addition of bintaro fruit was intended as co-firing of EFB at a ratio 70:30. The best characteristics of biopellet were obtained under conditions of 60 minutes residence time and 50 bar compaction pressures with 3.00% of moisture content, 7.90% of ash content, 8.70% of volatile content, 80.40% of fixed carbon content, 4719.59 cal/gr of heating value, and 1.28 gr/cm3 of density. Characteristics of moisture content and volatile content decreased while ash content, fixed carbon content, and heating value increased with increasing residence time. Characteristics of density increased with increasing compaction pressure. Characteristics of proximate and heating value increased while density properties of biopellet decreased with the addition of bintaro fruit as co-firing.

A review on the potential of empty fruit bunch (EFB) compost as growing medium for oil palm seedling production

The oil palm industry is among the important sectors in Malaysia. The productions of palm oil keep increasing year by year due to high demand from other countries, generating an abundance of wastes from the field and the mill. These wastes may significantly affect the environment. Composting is one of the methods to reduce the volume of waste. The compost material is widely used especially in agriculture activities due to its properties which have been enhanced during the composting process. Empty fruit bunch (EFB) compost mostly returns to the soil as mulch to conserve soil moisture and acts as organic fertilizer since it contains high nutrients needed by the plant. Currently, the depletion of fertile soil leads to less availability of growing medium, especially in the nursery. The properties of the growing medium are important to ensure better root development of seedlings and subsequently affect the overall plant growth. Therefore, numerous studies have been conducted to identify the suitable growing medium as a substitute for topsoil which is currently limited to raising seedlings in the nursery. This review examines the current methods of composting EFB and provides summarized research information on the effect of EFB compost on oil palm seedling growth. The oil palm wastes that are properly managed could produce value-added by-products and promotes sustainable agriculture practices.

Upgrading Characteristics of Empty Fruit Bunch Biopellet with Addition of Bintaro Fruit as Co-firing

The low density of mass and energy are the main reason for the underutilization of great potential of Empty Fruit Bunch (EFB) as a raw material of alternative and renewable fuels. The using of bintaro fruit as co-firing and treatment of torre faction – densification processes were believed to increase the density of mass and energy of the EFB bio pellet. This study aims to determine the effect of residence time, compaction pressure, and addition of bintaro fruit to the characteristics of EFB bio pellet according to ISO 17225-6 standards. Bio pellet machine was carried out two processes sequence, namely the torre faction process and the densification process. The torre faction process was carried out at 275°C with residence time variations 30, 45, and 60 minutes. The densification process was carried out without binder with compaction pressure variations 30, 40, and 50 bar. Characteristics of moisture content and volatile content decreased while ash content, fixed carbon content, and heating value increased with increasing residence time. Characteristics of density increased with increasing compaction pressure. Characteristics of proximate and heating value increased while density properties of bio pellet decreased with the addition of bintaro fruit as co-firing.

Potential of Agro Waste-Derived Adsorbent Material for Colour Removal

The potential of Empty Fruit Bunch obtained from palm oil tree as a low-cost adsorbent is a sustainable approach in wastewater treatment. The objective this study to investigate the capability of EFB for removal colour from natural rubber wastewater as well as the influence of adsorbent dosage, pH, shaking speed and contact time. The results of the analysis show that all selected factors exhibit significant effect on removal of colour. Maximum removal (87.1%) for colour was achieved at 3.5 g of adsorbent dosage, pH 7, 150 rpm of shaking speed, 120 min of contact time. The Langmuir isotherm (R2= 0.9913) described colour adsorption slightly better than the Freundlich isotherm (R2= 0.9805), suggesting a monolayer adsorption behavior of the adsorption processes

Production of fumaric acid from oil palm empty fruit bunch

Oil palm empty fruit bunch (EFB) , one of the most abundant agricultural residues in Thailand , is an attractive lignocellulosic material for value added agricultural products. They could be used as a raw material for cheap renewable feedstock to produce acids and many other value-added products. This research is to investigate the potential of EFB as a raw material for fumaric acid production through separate hydrolysis and fermentation (SHF) by the selected fungal isolate K20. Steam explosion was used in this study to pretreat the lignocellulosic material. A Cellic CTec2 enzyme (25 FPU/ml) was used to hydrolyze the pretreated material into glucose. Response surface methodology (RSM) based on central composite design (CCD) was applied to optimize the effect of the medium composition including solid loading, (NH 4 ) 2 SO 4 and Na 2 CO 3 on fumaric acid concentration. The optimized medium consisted of (g/L): solid loading 166.70, (NH 4 ) 2 SO 4 0.29 and Na 2 CO 3 3.07. The maximum predicted value of fumaric acid concentration of 5.18 g/L was obtained, which corresponded with the observed values of 5.30 g/L

Parametric and Adsorption Kinetic Studies of Reactive Black 5 Removal from Textile Simulated Wastewater Using Oil Palm (Elais guineensis) Empty Fruit Bunch

The potential of empty fruit bunch as a low-cost biosorbent for the removal of Reactive Black 5 from aqueous solution was investigated in this study. The influences of pH, contact time, initial concentration and biosorbent dosage were studied in batch experiments at room temperature. The empty fruit bunch used in this study was characterized by mR spectroscopy and it was found that O-H, N-H, and C=O stretching were present. Maximum adsorption uptake of Reactive Black 5 dye was found to be at pH 2. At pH 2, the adsorption was rapid at the first 5 minutes of contact, with uptake of more than 50%, and equilibrium was achieved in 30 minutes of agitation. It was also found that higher biosorbent dosage increases dye uptake, of up to 90%. Kinetic studies showed good correlation coefficient for a pseudo-second-order kinetic model. Langmuir, Freundlich, and BET isotherm models were applied to describe the biosorption of Reactive Black 5 dyes onto empty fruit bunch. Langmuir model fitted the equilibrium data better, giving correlation coefficient of 0.9999 and a maximum adsorption capacity of 7.3421 mg/g. Both pseudo-second-order kinetic model and Langmuir model indicates monolayer coverage on adsorbent. The results showed that empty fruit bunch have the potential to be applied as alternative low-cost biosorbent in the remediation of dye contamination in waste water.

Potential of Oil Palm EFB (Empty Fruit Bunch of Elaeis guineensis) as Industrial Raw Materials

Empty fruit bunch (EFB) of Elaeis guineensis is one of by-products in the oil palm industry and has been used as fuels and mulch. 1n the present work, in order to utilize EFB as organic resources in place of petro-resources, the potential of EFB was investigated, using the phase-separation process, in comparison with woody materials. The yields of EFB- and hardwood lignophenols reached to the maximum by the phase-separation treatment for 10 min and decreased gradually after that, while the yields of softwood lignophenols increased gradually up to 60 min. This is due to the difference in the frequency of condensed structures in lignin molecules between with and without syringyl units. The compositions of carbohydrates from EFB through the phase-separation system were similar to those from hardwood, in which glucose and xylose were obtained as main constituents. The average molecular weights, amounts of grafted phenol and phase transition points of EFB lignophenols were about 8,000 (Mw), 0.7 mol/C9, 150°C, respectively. Through the treatment with 0.5 N NaOH at 170°C, the molecular weight of lignophenol was decreased to about 800 (Mw). This was caused by the neighboring group participation reaction of grafted cresol in EFB lignophenol.