title: Use of Empty Fruit Bunches from the oil palm for bioethanol production: a thorough comparison between dilute acid and dilute alkali pretreatment.
abstract: In the present work, two pretreatment techniques using either dilute acid (H2SO4) or dilute alkali (NaOH) have been compared for producing bioethanol from Empty Fruit Bunches (EFBs) from oil palm tree, a relevant feedstock for tropical countries. Treatments' performances under different conditions have been assessed and statistically optimized with respect to the response upon standardized enzymatic saccharification. The dilute acid treatment performed at optimal conditions (161.5°C, 9.44 min and 1.51% acid loading) gave 85.5% glucose yield, comparable to those of other commonly investigated feedstocks. Besides, the possibility of using fibers instead of finely ground biomass may be of economic interest. Oppositely, treatment with dilute alkali has shown lower performances under the conditions explored, most likely given the relatively significant lignin content, suggesting that the use of stronger alkali regime (with the associated drawbacks) is unavoidable to improve the performance of this treatment.
authors.affiliation: Bioenergy and Energy Planning Research Group (BPE), Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland. Electronic address: simone_chiesa@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chiesa
authors.affiliation: Bioenergy and Energy Planning Research Group (BPE), Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gnansounou
mesh_terms: D028023:Arecaceae / Q000737:chemistry*; D056804:Biofuels; D018533:Biomass; D001709:Biotechnology / Q000379:methods*; D000431:Ethanol / Q000378:metabolism*; D005638:Fruit / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000187:drug effects; D005936:Glucans / Q000032:analysis; D005947:Glucose / Q000378:metabolism; D008031:Lignin / Q000032:analysis; D012972:Sodium Hydroxide / Q000494:pharmacology*; D013464:Sulfuric Acids / Q000494:pharmacology*; D014990:Xylans / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D056804:Biofuels; D005936:Glucans; D013464:Sulfuric Acids; D014990:Xylans; D000431:Ethanol; D012972:Sodium Hydroxide; D008031:Lignin; D005947:Glucose
keywords: Dilute sodium hydroxide pretreatment; Dilute sulfuric acid treatment; Lignocellulosic bioethanol; Oil Palm Empty Fruit Bunches (EFBs); Surface response analysis