Extracting Soda Lignin from the Black Liquor of Oil Palm Empty Fruit Bunch

Soda lignin from oil palm empty fruit bunches was directly isolated by sulfuric acid at different experimental factors, i.e. acid concentration, pH, extraction temperature and extraction time. In this study, Taguchi Robust Design Technique was used to rank the above factors that may effect the yield of soda lignin. The Taguchi orthogonal array L9 was used for the experimental design with three levels of consideration for each factor. The response (yield of lignin) was analyzed based on the Taguchi signal to noise ratio (S/N) and analysis of variance (ANOVA). The results showed that the most notable factor influencing the yield of lignin was the extraction temperature, followed by concentration of sulfuric acid, time of extraction and pH. The optimum yield of lignin, which is 3.016 g from every 200 mL of black liquor, was then predicted based on these results. The presence of soda lignin was confirmed by FT-IR analysis.