Kinetic Study of Empty Fruit Bunch Using Hot Liquid Water and Dilute Acid

Empty fruit bunch (EFB), a residual product of the palm plantation, is an attractive biomass for biorefinery. As xylan is susceptible to high temperature pretreatment, it is important to setup a proper pretreatment condition to maximize the sugar recovery from EFB. Kinetic parameters of mathematical models were obtained in order to predict the concentration of xylose, glucose, furfural, and acetic acid in the hydrolysate and to find production conditions of xylose. We investigated the kinetics of hot liquid water and dilute sulfuric acid hydrolysis over a 40-min period using a self-designed setup by measuring the concentrations of released sugars (xylose, glucose) and degradation products (acetic acid and furfural). The reaction was performed within the range 160～180 °C, under reaction conditions of various concentration of sulfuric acid (0.1～0.2%) and 1:7 solid-liquid ratio in a batch reactor. The kinetic constants can be expressed by the Arrhenius equation with the activation energy for the hydrolysis of sugar and decomposition of sugar. The activation energy of xylose was determined to be 136.2187 kJ mol(-1).