Dilute acid pretreatment of lignocellulose for whole slurry ethanol fermentation

Dilute sulfuric acid pretreatment of oil palm empty fruit bunches (EFB) followed by the whole slurry fermentation of the pretreated EFB slurry was investigated. The optimized pretreatment conditions were at 1% (w/v) sulfuric acid with 3 min ramping to 190 °C in a microwave digester. Pretreated and washed EFB exhibited enzymatic digestibility of 88.5% of theoretical glucose yield after 48 h of hydrolysis. When the whole slurry of pretreated and neutralized EFB was used in simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) using cellulase and Saccharomyces cerevisiae, sulfuric acid-pretreated EFB resulted in 52.5% of theoretical ethanol yield based on total glucan in the untreated initial EFB after 72 h of SSF. When pretreated EFB slurry was treated with activated carbon before subjecting to SSF, the SSF furnished 87.5% ethanol yield based on the initial glucan content in untreated EFB (after 48 h of SSF).