Composition determination for electron beam irradiation and ionic liquid pretreatment of Oil Palm Fond (OPF)

This research project was conducted to study the effect of electron beam irradiation and ionic liquid as the pretreatment process on lignocellulosic biomass. The lignocellulosic biomass that were used in this research are Oil Palm Frond (OPF). Prior to the determination of composition of lignin, cellulose and hemicellulose, the lignocellulosic biomass was pretreated with ionic liquid and electron beam irradiator. The chemical pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass was by using ionic liquid which is 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate or [EMIM]Ac. Physicochemical pretreatment adopted using electron beam irradiator was conducted at Malaysia Institute for Nuclear Technology (MINT). Before the OPF were irradiated with electron beam irradiator at 100, 200, 400, 600, 800 and 1000 kGy, they were pretreated with 50% of [EMIM]Ac first. Morphological characteristic of the biomass was observed by using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD). The chemical compositions of lignin, hemicellulose and cellulose were determined by using Kappa number and TAPPI method. The results from the research found that, the higher the irradiation doses of electron beam irradiation, the greater the dissociation of cellulose and more accessible surface area of cellulose toward next hydrolysis process in order to produce biofuels.