Comparative study on production of bioethanol from oil palm empty fruit bunch (EFB) via acid hydrolysis / Darlis Sahri

Oil Palm empty fruit bunch (EFB) has been identified as a potential biomass that can be used to produce bioethanol. Bioethanol can be synthesized from cellulose and hemicellulose that originated from many sources of biomass. This study focused on the production of bioethanol from oil palm empty fruit bunch via acid hydrolysis followed by fermentation using Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The main objective of this study is to study the effect of different acid on glucose production through the acid hydrolysis and also to compare the bioethanol production of glucose yield from acid hydrolysis by fermentation. The bioethanol in this experimental work was synthesized from two-stage production method; in first stage, the hydrolysate of EFB was treated with two different type of acid. In the second stage ensued, fermentation with Saccharomyces cerevisiae carried out. The result demonstrates that the different acid treat can affect the glucose yield at the end of acid hydrolysis. Moreover, the different concentration of glucose that obtained from acid hydrolysis also affects the total of bioethanol produce after 48 hours fermentation using Saccharomyces cereviseae.The maximum bioethanol yield obtained from this study is 2.07% (v/v) at the glucose concentration of 10985.10 μg/ml, which obtained from acid hydrolysis.