Chemical and Physical Characterization of Oil Palm Empty Fruit Bunch

Abstract

The interest in Oil Palm Empty Fruit Bunch (OPEFB) as a promising feedstock for bioconversion into value added products is growing fast, thus a thorough analysis of its component becomes necessary. In this study, the biomass chemical composition and physical feature of OPEFB was analysed to explore and understand the potential of OPEFB as bioconversion feedstock. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) standard protocols were used to characterize and determine the chemical composition of OPEFB. Through this protocol, the structural and non-structural constituents and their compositions were determined based on unextracted and extracted native OPEFB. Structural constituents include the carbohydrate, such as the glucan, xylan and arabinan, and lignin accounted for 31.2%, 18.7%, 2.7%, and 27.7%, while the non-structural constituents mainly refer to ash and extractives accounted for 0.10% and 11.87%. In addition, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) analysis were also used to further characterize the chemical structure of OPEFB. The FTIR spectral peaks representing the functional groups cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin were observed. Through XRD analysis, the crystallinity index of native OPEFB fiber was calculated around 40%, while it was 37% for the powder form OPEFB. Nevertheless, the physical feature or surface morphology of the OPEFB fiber has been study by using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). It shows a rigid strand's surface and the presence of silica bodies which commonly found in woody plant.Keywords: lignocellulose, composition, morphology, spectroscopy, crystallinity Abstrak Minat terhadap tandan kosong buah kelapa sawit (OPEFB) sebagai bahan mentah secara penukaran bio telah menjanjikan hasil produk tambah nilai yang berkembang pesat, oleh itu suatu analisis yang menyeluruh komponennya menjadi keperluan. Dalam kajian ini, komposisi kimia biomas dan ciri-ciri fizikal OPEFB dianalisis untuk meneroka dan memahami potensi OPEFB sebagai bahan mentah untuk penukaran bio. Protokol piawai National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) telah digunakan untuk mencirikan dan menentukan komposisi kimia OPEFB. Melalui protokol ini, juzuk struktur atau bukan struktur dan komposisi mereka telah ditentukan. Juzuk struktur termasuk karbohidrat, seperti glukan, xilan dan arabinan dan lignin menyumbang kepada 31.2%, 18.7%, 2.7%, dan 27.7%, manakala juzuk bukan struktur terutamanya merujuk kepada abu dan ekstraktif menyumbang kepada 0.10% and 11.87%. Di samping itu, analisis Spektroskopi Inframerah Transformasi Fourier (FTIR) dan belauan sinar-X (XRD) juga digunakan untuk mencirikan lagi struktur kimia OPEFB. Puncak spektrum FTIR yang mewakili kumpulan berfungsi daripada selulosa, hemiselulosa dan lignin telah diperhatikan. Melalui analisis XRD, indeks penghabluran gentian OPEFB asli dikira sekitar 40%, manakala ia adalah 37% untuk OPEFB berbentuk serbuk. Walau bagaimanapun, ciri atau permukaan fizikal morfologi serat OPEFB asli yang telah dikaji dengan menggunakan Mikro...

Synthesis of Magnetic Catalyst Derived from Oil Palm Empty Fruit Bunch for Esterification of Oleic Acid: An Optimization Study

“…As observed, silica bodies were discovered embedded on the fiber surfaces and substances such as oil and impurities that covered the surface. This result was comparable to the findings of Ibrahim et al that reported the presence of silica bodies on the surface of untreated fibers [26,27]. The alkaline treatment substantially changed the morphology of the fibers (Figure 1(b)).…”

Abundance and characterization of microorganisms isolated from oil palm empty fruit bunches waste under aerobic, anaerobic, and facultative anaerobic conditions

“…Other than that, oil palm empty fruit bunches can also be used as biofertilizer because it contains bacteria that can bind nitrogen and phosphate solvents (Hoe et al 2016), as degraders lignin bacteria (Tahir et al 2019), as organic materials decomposers (Chin et al 2017), as well as a fuel for power plant (Han and Kim 2018). Oil palm empty fruit bunches also contain abundant bacteria, high cellulose so it can be used as a source of bacterial energy for the biosynthesis process (Md Yunos et al 2015;Rosli et al 2017). Moreover, Rosli et al (2017) found that the oil palm empty fruit bunches contain the polymeric carbohydrates such as cellulose and hemicellulose.…”

“…Oil palm empty fruit bunches also contain abundant bacteria, high cellulose so it can be used as a source of bacterial energy for the biosynthesis process (Md Yunos et al 2015;Rosli et al 2017). Moreover, Rosli et al (2017) found that the oil palm empty fruit bunches contain the polymeric carbohydrates such as cellulose and hemicellulose. Also, the oil palm empty fruit bunches fiber was made up of 31.4% of glucan, 18.6% xylan and 2.7% arabinan with the lignin accounted for around 23.9%.…”

Oil Palm’s Empty Fruit Bunch as a Sorbent Material in Filter System for Oil-Spill Clean Up

“…With the heat-treated EFB, the vibration peaks at 2362.45 cm −1 weakened, thus concluding that the amounts of hydroxyl, hemicellulose, and cellulose were reduced when the EFB were exposed to the heat treatment [ 36 ]. The C=C stretching of the aromatic ring of lignin in untreated EFB at 1425.13 cm −1 was reduced to 1372.36 cm −1 after heat treatment, indicating the loss of lignin [ 37 ]. Thus, removing lignin, hemicellulose, and cellulose from heated samples led to the decreasing peak intensity in the spectra.…”