Effectiveness of Green Chemical Solvent-based on Triethylammonium Methanesulfonate Ion Liquid for the OPEFB Pretreatment Process.

Many studies have explored the pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass based on oil palm empty fruit bunch (OPEFB) which is categorized as potential biomass waste for bioethanol production. Before proceeding further to obtain bioethanol, several steps such as pretreatment to increase organic constituents are needed. The ionic liquids (ILs) were commonly investigated by many researchers for lignocellulosic pretreatment because it is easy solubilization property, non-toxic, and not harmful impacts on the environment. Therefore in this study, the hypothesis and main objective were to observe the effectiveness of triethylammonium methanesulfonate ion liquid (TMS IL) in the OPEFB lignocellulose pretreatment process. Three variations were studied to obtain optimization of the pretreatment process, such as times duration, IL composition, and temperature. Based on these results, we observed the effectiveness of the time duration for OPEFB pretreatment of 20 hours. Furthermore, it was applied to determine the optimization of IL composition and temperature showing that using 91% (1:1:10) at 120°C for 20 hours has provided good performance for the OPEFB lignocellulose pretreatment process. TMS IL has exhibited the ability to reduce hemicellulose and lignin contents to 7.35% and 17.80%, whereas cellulose was increased by 54.24%. This has the opportunity to be projected to a larger scale for bioethanol production based on OPEFB lignocellulose.

Optimization of OPEFB lignocellulose transformation process through ionic liquid [TEA][HSO4] based pretreatment.

Research on the transformation of Oil Palm Empty Fruit Bunches (OPEFB) through pretreatment process using ionic liquid triethylammonium hydrogen sulphate (IL [TEA][HSO4]) was completed. The stages of the transformation process carried out were the synthesis of IL with the one-spot method, optimization of IL composition and pretreatment temperature, and IL recovery. The success of the IL synthesis stage was analyzed by FTIR, H-NMR and TGA. Based on the results obtained, it showed that IL [TEA][HSO4] was successfully synthesized. This was indicated by the presence of IR absorption at 1/λ = 2814.97 cm-1, 1401.07 cm-1, 1233.30 cm-1 and 847.92 cm-1 which were functional groups for NH, CH3, CN and SO2, respectively. These results were supported by H-NMR data at δ (ppm) = 1.217-1.236 (N-CH2-CH3), 3.005-3.023 (-H), 3.427-3.445 (N-H+) and 3.867 (N+H3). The TGA results showed that the melting point and decomposition temperature of the IL were 49 °C and 274.3 °C, respectively. Based on pretreatment optimization, it showed that the best IL composition for cellulose production was 85 wt%. Meanwhile, temperature optimization showed that the best temperature was 120 °C. In these two optimum conditions, the cellulose content was obtained at 45.84 wt%. Testing of IL [TEA][HSO4] recovery performance for reuse has shown promising results. During the pretreatment process, IL [TEA][HSO4] recovery effectively increased the cellulose content of OPEFB to 29.13 wt% and decreased the lignin content to 32.57%. The success of the recovery process is indicated by the increasing density properties of IL [TEA][HSO4]. This increase occurs when using a temperature of 80-100 °C. The overall conditions obtained from this work suggest that IL [TEA][HSO4] was effective during the transformation process of OPEFB into cellulose. This shows the potential of IL [TEA][HSO4] in the future in the renewable energy sector.

Examination the Hydrolysis Feasibility of OPEFB Biomass Using Aspergillus niger as Cellulase Enzyme-producing Fungus.

The objective of this study was to obtain optimization results from the biological hydrolysis of Oil Palm Empty Fruit Bunches (OPEFB) using Aspergillus niger (A. niger) BIOTROP 2173 isolated from grain. Optimized hydrolysis parameters include temperature, pH and time. The hydrolysis process was carried out by growing A. niger on OPEFB powder (± 30 mesh) through two schemes, namely hydrolysis on OPEFB pretreatment with 10% NaOH and hydrolysis on OPEFB non-pretreatment. The optimization results show that the best hydrolysis process of A. niger BIOTROP 2173 occurs in OPEFB pretreatment. The optimum conditions for temperature, pH and time obtained are 40°C, 6 and 24 hours, respectively. Although the amount of reducing sugar produced was lower than the OPEFB non-pretreatment, the performance of the cellulase enzyme during the hydrolysis process of OPEFB pretreatment was very good, with a fast hydrolysis rate. These results indicate that the performance of A. niger BIOTROP 2173 in the hydrolysis process is influenced by the pretreatment stage. The optimum conditions obtained then became a reference in the production of reducing sugar based on A. niger BIOTROP 2173. The amount of reducing sugar produced from OPEFB pretreatment was 0.94 mg.mL-1, while for OPEFB non-pretreatment was 15.83 mg.mL-1.

Preparation of mesostructured barium sulfate with high surface area by dispersion method and its characterization.

The spherical and cubic mesoporous BaSO(4) particles with high surface area were successfully produced via one-step process through precipitation reaction in aqueous solution of Ba(OH)(2) and H(2)SO(4) with ethylene glycol (n-HOCH(2)CH(2)OH) as a modifying agent. The BaSO(4) nanomaterial revealed that the high surface area and the mesoporous was stable up to 400 degrees C. Agglomerate mesoporous barium sulfate nanomaterials were obtained by the reaction of Ba(2+) and SO(2-)(4) with ethylene glycol aqueous solution. The ethylene glycol was used to control the BaSO(4) particle size and to modify the surface property of the particles produced from the precipitation. The dried and calcined mesoporous BaSO(4) nanomaterials were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), BET surface area and N(2) adsorption-desorption isotherm, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infrared resonance (FTIR) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The as-prepared mesoporous dried BaSO(4) possesses a high BET surface area of 91.56 m(2) g(-1), pore volume of 0.188 cm(3) g(-1) (P/P(0)=0.9849) and pore size of 8.22 nm. The SEM indicates that the morphology of BaSO(4) nanomaterial shows shell like particles up to 400 degrees C, after that there is drastically change in the material due to agglomeration. Synthesis of mesoporous BaSO(4) nanomaterial is of significant importance for both sulphuric acid decomposition and oxidation of methane to methanol.