Characterization of Oil Palm Frond Juice and Fiber as Feedstock for Biobutanol Production

Abstract

The interest in biobutanol fuel is driven by the need to expand the search for alternative fuels from sustainable source specially those that use abundant and low cost feedstock. Oil palm frond offer a promising sugar feed stock for fermentation as it is available throughout the year and regularly pruned during harvesting of fresh fruit bunches in oil palm plantation. The aim of this research is to study the characteristics of oil palm frond (OPF) juice extract and fiber as a feedstock for biobutanol production. In this studyliquid extracts are pressed from the respective OPF petioles and total reducing sugar content was analysed using DNS method and the result shows that the glucose concentration was 40.50g/L. Furthermore,content of sugar is highly affected by the age of oil palm tree which affected the content of sugar in the liquid extract of OPF.The high cellulose and low lignin content of 41.53% and 6.27% obtained from lignocellulose content analysis conducted using acid detergent filter (ADF), neutral detergent filter (NDF) and acid detergent lignin (ADL) methods as described by (Omar et al., 2011),indicates the suitability of Oil Palm Frond (OPF) as a promising feedstock for biobutanol production. Hence, conversion of oil palm plantation residues to green fuel can enhanced energy security and offers the potential for sustainable transport fuel in the future.