Kinetic modelling of enzymatic hydrolysis of oil palm empty fruit bunch pretreated by peracetic acid followed by alkaline peroxide solution assisted by ultrasound.

Pretreated oil palm empty fruit bunch (OPEFB) through sequential peracetic acid followed by alkaline peroxide solution assisted by ultrasound has been enzymatically hydrolyzed in this study. Three different cellulase enzyme concentration (1.25, 2.5, and 5 g/L) were employed to investigate their effect towards the concentration and yield of reducing sugar produced from the pretreated OPEFB. Results showed that the concentration and yield of reducing sugar were increased as the increasing enzyme concentration. The highest concentration and yield of reducing sugar has been obtained from the highest concentration of enzyme at 5 g/L. Besides, to fit and reproduce the experimental data, a fully empirical model and fractal model were employed. Fitting curve and statistical parameter showed the goodness-of-fit of both model with the experimental data at all concentration of enzyme. The empirical model showed a significant increase in the kinetic constant as the concentration of enzyme increases from 1.25 to 2.5 g/L and then slightly decrease at the highest concentration of enzyme at 5 g/L. Meanwhile, the fractal model showed a linear increase in the kinetic constant along with the increase of enzyme concentration. From this study, it can be inferred that the fractal model showed better kinetic constant values rather than the empirical model, since a higher enzyme concentration results in a higher kinetic constant which indicating a higher reaction rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]