Sulfite Pretreatment to Overcome Recalcitrance of Lignocellulose for Enzymatic Hydrolysis of Oil Palm trunk.

Oil palm trunk (OPT) an abundant agriculture waste was evaluated as an alternative lignocellulosic biomass resource for bioethanol production. Sulfite-based SPORL pretreatment (Sulfite Pretreatment to Overcome Recalcitrance of Lignocellulose) was applied to the OPT to enhance its enzymatic saccharification. The pretreatment conditions were optimized through a designed experiment within the ranges of temperature 170–190ºC, time for 30 min, 2–6% sulfite, and initial H 2 SO 4 concentrations 3–7% (w/w). The overall saccharides (hexoses and pentoses) recovery of SPORL pretreated was 62.5%. SPORL pretreatment removed 38.8% lignin from the OPT as lignosulfonate in the liquor with great potential for co-product development, and 93.9% xylose was dissolved, which were the main reasons why the SPORL pretreatment could enhance the enzymatic hydrolysis of the OPT. The results indicated that over 92% of the cellulose in the pretreated OPT with 7% H 2 SO 4 and 6% Na 2 SO 3 at 190ºC was enzymatically hydrolyzed to glucose within 48 h with a cellulase loading of 15 FPU/g cellulose, and overall glucose yield was 66%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]